Jeff Wang Blog

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Does the crime justify the punishment?

The “Golden Rule” goes along the lines of: do onto others only what you would be willing to have others do onto you. Treat others how you’d like to be treated.

So then, would it be immoral to punish criminals with something of similar degree of their committed crime?

But murder is hard to justify in many cases.

What about torture? Is it worse than murder? Some forms, easily yes.

I watched the Black Mirror episode “White Bear” today which addressed this topic. A couple in the episode murdered and tortured a small child and then filmed the entire scene. The woman is then tortured interminably with the same degree of the crime–she is filmed while tortured in a chaotic manner, such as running from other murderers while several onlookers simply film her.

The punishment matches the crime, but is perhaps even more gruesome.

In my opinion though, an eye for an eye leaves the entire world blind.

But still, that theory has flaws as well. Do we simply not punish crime? When does the crime justify the punishment? What degree of punishment is justifiable?

Thoughts?