Squarethecircle wrote:Punishment is futile, as there is no way to undo a crime. However, the threat of it hanging above their heads is much more effective. Thus prisons do not need to punish, only to threaten to do so, and reserve it for the more, how would you say, severe cases. The ones who are not punished will still be miserable, of course, but the ones that are even more miserable are the ones who will be publicized. The threat of something that you cannot even bring yourself to do is often far more effective than the punishment itself. If you are a child or a parent, you should have already learned this.
This sounds like an interesting idea, please elaborate on it. I do think that there are some things that can get a person put in prison that shouldn't, but they're what would be called consensual crimes, rather than acts intended to harm a non-consenting 3rd party.