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But I'm wondering if it should ever be the role of a civilized society to punish. Aren't rehabilitation and protection from the public the only roles society should be concerned about when it comes to incarcerating a fellow human being?
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I think the justice system should do 3 things:
<ul type="square">[*] keep the person from doing further harm[*] rehabilitate the person to prevent further harm[*] correct the harm that was done[/list]
If a person X harms person Y, then it does not correct the harm done by causing harm to person X. People who seek revenge think so, though. What would be better would be to force person X to try to make right the harm he did. That takes creativity, and is always up for debate as to what X can do to make up for the wrong he did to Y. If there's a monetary value, then repaying that would be pretty easy. But in cases where there is none (e.g. X killed Y), then he may be repaying that debt for the rest of his life. But, it's still better than not having him make up as much as possible, I think.