[ExI] What is Grace?

[Stathis Papaioannou]

On 13/03/2009, at 12:36 AM, Stefano Vaj <stefano.vaj at gmail.com> wrote:

> On Thu, Mar 12, 2009 at 4:29 AM, Gordon Swobe <gts_2000 at yahoo.com>  
> wrote:
>> I think we incarcerate or execute criminals for one or more of the  
>> following reasons:
>>
>> 1) retribution (we should make them suffer for what they did)
>> 2) rehabilitation (we should heal them and make them productive  
>> citizens)
>> 3) deterrence (we should prevent them from re-offending, and make  
>> them an example to others)
>
> At least in western societies, criminal sentences serve somewhat
> unofficially an additional purpose, namely the more or less temporary
> elimination of people who are perceived as dangerous or asocial from
> society.
>
> This is of course hypocritical and distorsive, since it should be
> dealt with if anything not on the basis of crimes allegedly already
> perpetrated and their gravity, but on the basis of potential future
> damages.

The question of likelihood to re-offend is a factor in sentencing.