Take some fucking responsibility!

[FatAndFaithless]

I guess I just never really understood the impulse to be cruel towards cruel people.  Even people that have wronged me terribly, I never wished for them to suffer or experience some grievous harm.  This 'retribution' mindset might be understandable considering a victim's emotions, but it's certainly not something we should base our justice system on.

I can see that logic. Leaving behind emotional wants would be a more fair justice system. Personally I am the kind that if the person did wrong me terribly then I want real eye for an eye justice. Of course this is why I should never be in law enforcement, any court related job, or really anything that let's me have power over someone I deem bad. My question is though that if we see jail and nothing else as just punishment how does that make the person better? If someone has done something so heinous as sexual assault it means there is something VERY wrong in their mind set. Putting them in jail, a place where violence, hate, and anger rules, won't fix that disgusting desire in them. Where do we balance out the fair punishing him part and the acknowledging that he is mentally unstable?

Yup, prison should be about rehabilitation, not retribution, and I'll be the first to admit that our prison system is hopelessly, dangerously broken when it comes to that.  How do we fix it? I sure as hell don't have the answers, but we certainly won't fix it by supporting castrations or the death penalty.