Ethics (Religion)

by Carl, Sunday, October 05, 2008, 15:44 (5688 days ago) @ dhw

Dhw says in response to my post on capital punishment, "You state that society has an obligation to pursue revenge in the form of justice. Revenge creates a never-ending cycle of violence at all levels (think of vendettas), and if that is the ethic behind human justice, it sets the worst possible example, as epitomized by the death penalty. Revenge to me suggests an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, and a life for a life. I believe society's motive should be self-protection (with as much help as possible given to the families of the victims)."
When a high publicity trial ends, one of the standard news segments is the interview with the family of the victim to see if they are satisfied with the verdict and sentence. Good prosecutors work with victims and families over charges and plea bargains. Families follow cases for decades, even through the parole hearings, to continue to seek justice. Imagine if your child had been killed by a drunk driver. If your attitude was simply that it was important to get the offender into rehab, you would be truly "turning the other cheek." You would probably want to see some punishment.
In primitive sections of Pakistan and Afghanistan, revenge killings and honor killings are part of the justice system. Any adequate judicial system must recognize the human urge for vengeance and make some effort to satisfy it. Otherwise, society members will go back to seeking their own vengeance. Humans are not yet ready to view all criminals as simple mental health cases that need treatment. Society can satisfy it's need for self protection and the family's need for justice at the same time. Justice is just a compromise form of vengeance. Perhaps someday the practice of imprisonment will be totally replaced with mental therapy, but both society and humans will have to change before that day comes.
An additional thought on government violence, I do not consider imprisonment as violence in the same sense that I do execution. Imprisonment deprives a person of their human dignity, but it does not have to be physically violent. Corporal punishment would be violence.