15 Sep
2001
15 Sep
'01
5:07 p.m.
Susan Beth asked:
Are you then saying we should never bother to investigate/try/imprison any murderer? After all, *his* victim would still be dead, too.
Restitution is only one of the purposes behind punishing evil-doers.
The concepts of "murder" and "punishment" exist in a system of law where everybody gives at least tacit acceptance to the rules, and "deterrence" is at least an arguable purpose. If trying and imprisoning murderers led to widespread recruitment of more murderers, then we'd have to re-think the whole process.
-(Y)