A 22-year-old self-confessed Canadian white nationalist who deliberately ran over and killed four members of a Muslim family in his truck in 2021 was found guilty of first degree murder on Thursday.
I think the mainstream liberal take is probably very aligned with yours. You have to go further left to get a different opinion. But I hold such an opinion so to give my perspective: I don’t give 2 shits about punishment for punishments sake. If anything I only see that as causing more harm. What I care about is reducing net harm. There have been countless studies that have shown that severity of punishment is an extremely poor deterrent. Often times perpetrators are more concerned with the social impact getting caught will have on their immediate contacts over how long they’ll be jailed for, and frankly, just don’t think that they’ll get caught at all. If we take that for true, and my goal of reducing net harm, the value of jail becomes reforming those who can be reformed, and keeping those who can’t locked away from the rest of society. Neither of these things are intrinsically tied to any period of time. And because of how we treat ex-cons in society currently recidivism rates get worse for having been in prison. Possibly because they can’t get legal work, and possibly because the social reputation damage has already been done, so that fear is no longer holding them back.
I don’t give 2 shits about punishment for punishments sake. If anything I only see that as causing more harm.
Yes, this is the standard view I get from a lot of liberals these days. Maybe you’re right that most liberals are more aligned with me than you, but I’ve personally seen your views getting more popular with time, and I really don’t like it.
Reason being, your view only takes into account the likelihood of future harm, but explicitly fails to address the harm already done. It’s like you don’t give a damn about the people criminals hurt, only their likelihood of hurting people in the future. Let’s say this driver had merely been drunk, rather than racist, and he accidentally killed this family. In your view (and correct me if I’m wrong), he should only be incarcerated in a treatment facility for as long as it takes for his treatment providers to feel he is no longer a danger to society. Let’s say this is the only time he’s ever driven drunk, and its enough of a wake-up call for him that he’s sober and remorseful within a year. That means he would be free and back to his life while the family of the people he killed are likely still mourning their deaths. Does that seem fair to you? According to you, it doesn’t matter. Who cares? To me, that means you don’t really give a damn about justice.
Like it or not, punishment is a part of justice. It’s not about revenge—that’s why we have punishments decided on and doled out by an impartial third party—it’s about making someone who has made others suffer suffer themselves in some humane way, because if we don’t, most people do not feel justice has been done. But you think we shouldn’t even do that. This astonishes me. It makes me think you need to be the victim of a major crime, to be seriously hurt in some way by someone else, and then see them get a slap-on-the-wrist sentence, and see how it makes you feel.
I’m going to tell you right now that I’ve had this conversation with people like you many times over the years, and so I don’t expect you’re going to offer me any arguments that I haven’t heard before. So, if I don’t respond to your next comment, that’s why. Just FYI.
I think the mainstream liberal take is probably very aligned with yours. You have to go further left to get a different opinion. But I hold such an opinion so to give my perspective: I don’t give 2 shits about punishment for punishments sake. If anything I only see that as causing more harm. What I care about is reducing net harm. There have been countless studies that have shown that severity of punishment is an extremely poor deterrent. Often times perpetrators are more concerned with the social impact getting caught will have on their immediate contacts over how long they’ll be jailed for, and frankly, just don’t think that they’ll get caught at all. If we take that for true, and my goal of reducing net harm, the value of jail becomes reforming those who can be reformed, and keeping those who can’t locked away from the rest of society. Neither of these things are intrinsically tied to any period of time. And because of how we treat ex-cons in society currently recidivism rates get worse for having been in prison. Possibly because they can’t get legal work, and possibly because the social reputation damage has already been done, so that fear is no longer holding them back.
Yes, this is the standard view I get from a lot of liberals these days. Maybe you’re right that most liberals are more aligned with me than you, but I’ve personally seen your views getting more popular with time, and I really don’t like it.
Reason being, your view only takes into account the likelihood of future harm, but explicitly fails to address the harm already done. It’s like you don’t give a damn about the people criminals hurt, only their likelihood of hurting people in the future. Let’s say this driver had merely been drunk, rather than racist, and he accidentally killed this family. In your view (and correct me if I’m wrong), he should only be incarcerated in a treatment facility for as long as it takes for his treatment providers to feel he is no longer a danger to society. Let’s say this is the only time he’s ever driven drunk, and its enough of a wake-up call for him that he’s sober and remorseful within a year. That means he would be free and back to his life while the family of the people he killed are likely still mourning their deaths. Does that seem fair to you? According to you, it doesn’t matter. Who cares? To me, that means you don’t really give a damn about justice.
Like it or not, punishment is a part of justice. It’s not about revenge—that’s why we have punishments decided on and doled out by an impartial third party—it’s about making someone who has made others suffer suffer themselves in some humane way, because if we don’t, most people do not feel justice has been done. But you think we shouldn’t even do that. This astonishes me. It makes me think you need to be the victim of a major crime, to be seriously hurt in some way by someone else, and then see them get a slap-on-the-wrist sentence, and see how it makes you feel.
I’m going to tell you right now that I’ve had this conversation with people like you many times over the years, and so I don’t expect you’re going to offer me any arguments that I haven’t heard before. So, if I don’t respond to your next comment, that’s why. Just FYI.