We need prisons. If you can't put people in jail, what do you do with people who rape or kill innocent people because it's fun and/or profitable to do so?
I assume from the tone of your post that you'd disapprove even more strongly of using torture or a swift and sure death penalty to deal with such people (assuming the specifics were found not to run afoul of the Constitution's prohibition on "cruel and unusual punishment" and were able to get enough political support to be implemented; passing both those hurdles would be extremely unlikely in practice).
So what's your alternative? What "enlightened" country do you live in, and what do they do with criminals?
I agree it would be nice if we could shut down our prisons. It would also be nice if people didn't get sick or die, if nobody was poor or hungry, if we had spaceships that could travel to other stars or galaxies as easily as airplanes travel to other countries or continents. But we can't just ignore the facts and limitations of the real world just because we don't like them.
We need prisons. If you can't put people in jail, what do you do with people who rape or kill innocent people because it's fun and/or profitable to do so?
I assume from the tone of your post that you'd disapprove even more strongly of using torture or a swift and sure death penalty to deal with such people (assuming the specifics were found not to run afoul of the Constitution's prohibition on "cruel and unusual punishment" and were able to get enough political support to be implemented; passing both those hurdles would be extremely unlikely in practice).
So what's your alternative? What "enlightened" country do you live in, and what do they do with criminals?
I agree it would be nice if we could shut down our prisons. It would also be nice if people didn't get sick or die, if nobody was poor or hungry, if we had spaceships that could travel to other stars or galaxies as easily as airplanes travel to other countries or continents. But we can't just ignore the facts and limitations of the real world just because we don't like them.