My warning exprires in t-minus 10 minutes.

[Angrboda]

Maybe it's true - perhaps we really do need authority to make us behave...

I don't know if you were being sarcastic here or not, and alluding to God and what not.

I'm not sure I have a well thought out response here. (Ethics and political philosophy are not areas I specialize in.)

Perhaps it's not that we need authority to behave, but we do need standards, and standards without consequences aren't really standards.

I've spent too much time on free will debates in the past 12 months to go much deeper, but a common question that comes up is that if people don't have free will, what right do we have to hold them accountable for their actions? The simple reply I have is that we don't need "moral" accountability, in some metaphysical sense, we need to have means of keeping people from behaving in harmful and unfair ways.....

Traditionally, punishing bad people has been justified on four theories. (I used to say three. I think someone here supplied the fourth.)
1. Retribution. An eye for an eye. "They deserve to hang!"
2. Deterrence. If we don't punish it, people will do it more often.
3. Rehabilitation. A person who does bad needs to receive treatment to reduce the chance of them doing it again.
4. Public safety. We can't leave murdering psychopaths in the community because of the danger they pose to the safety of others in the community. (that's the new #4)

Of these four reasons for punishment, only #1, retribution, needs "moral accountability" to justify its use and importance. And in general, many people consider retribution a very weak justification for punishment, one that accomplishes nothing (and may lead to more harm), and may not even be moral.

The other justifications for punishment have rational reasons for doing them because of a tangible benefit to society (and maybe even the criminal him/herself). We don't need moral accountability to have a moral society. We need standards, standards with enforcement, and enforcement that means something and has a rational reason for its use.

</rant>