Incarceration: Rehabiliate and Protect? Or Punish?

[Lestat]

It goes without saying that people should bear the consequences of their actions. Cold call enough raises from a tight player with Q4s, and you deserve to be punished and lose your money. Get caught cheating on a test and you deserve to fail. Get caught pilfering company supplies and you deserve to lose your job. Etc., etc.

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? Or should punishment also be a factor? And if so, how do we go about defining the varying degrees of the offense? Stealing a $1000 chip off someone playing in a $400-$800 game is wrong. But is it as wrong (or harmful), as stealing $1000 from an elderly lady who lives on welfare and food stamps? Should the punishments be the same?

What got me thinking about this is a recent news story about a man who, as part of a 12-step program for AA, tried to atone for a gang rape he took part in back in college. He is now middle age, I believe. The woman he raped, instead of accepting his apology, turned him in and he is now serving a 10 year prison sentence, which he will be eligible for parole in only months. This is not good enough for the woman who wants him imprisoned longer.

Don't get me wrong. I feel for the woman and she has every right to be angry, revengeful, or whatever else she wants to be. But this is a man, who now has a family and is otherwise successful and a productive member of society (and if he isn't, please don't harp on that. Let's assume he is). What's important is that he has presumably never committed another rape.

So assuming society does not need protection from this individual, and assuming he does not need rehabilitation, does he really need to be incarcerated? Certainly not if society's main concern is in the rehabilitation of crimminals, or in the protection of innocent citizens. Is it right for civilized society to be in the business of doling out punishments?