Another Free-will poll, please bear with me!

[Aroura]

Determinism. I don't need to explain it, proponents of free will need to make a case for it with evidence. Everything I do has a preemptive cause, I'm conditioned since birth by biology and sociological barriers - All I do is pre-scheduled by variables that lead me to the result.

I have a problem with people switching perspectives, and cherry picking too much. For example, if free will is not real, then responsibility is meaningless, and the idea of a legal justice system has to go out the window. But I've seen people argue in one thread that free will is an illusion, all is deterministic, and then on another thread say that a child rapist should be executed or something like that.

Because the only thing that can go out the window is the punitive side of the justice system - The rehabilitation procedure, the prevention and coercion needn't go away. I may not apply punitive/retributive measures to anyone, but I can still execute them if I believe they'll inevitably commit more crimes (or imprison them for life, whatever). Your argument would only apply if a justice system was based purely on bronze age divine retribution (an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth) - Since it isn't (and it shouldn't be), acknowledging there is no free will does not mean we need to abolish the justice system because the purpose of justice is not to "hurt" people but to ensure peaceful living conditions for society and to give each person what's rightfully theirs.

I'd like to point out that I think this post need more Kudo's! 
I hear this argument so often, and you gave a very succinct and accurate view as to how determinism would actually make appositive change to our legal system (so it's not mere mental masturbation), and why determinism actually leads people to behave more humanely, I think.  Contrary to popular opinion, which seems to be that determinism somehow would lead to nihilism, or at best just apathy. 

Also for anyone interested and who has an hour to spend, here is Sam Harris giving a great speech on the topic.  He says he finds people are often more resistant to the idea of determinism than they are to atheism, even.  It's really worth a listen if you have time.