In this context I find it interesting that most of the reforms to eliminate “barbaric” punishments have not hugely limited cruelty to the condemned—but have made the punishment boring for observers and punishers. Our present day ambient ethics thinks enjoying punishing is bad—without thinking punishing is bad.
Very true. In many case deterrence would be better accomplished by a brief, intense punishment (basically anything physically painful that doesn’t cause permanent damage). But that would be too icky to tolerate in our ‘enlightened’ age, so instead we lock petty criminals up in prison for months or years.
I’ve always found it odd that harming someone via deprivation of positive experience is considered ‘enlightened’, but inflicting negative experiences is ‘barbaric’.
In this context I find it interesting that most of the reforms to eliminate “barbaric” punishments have not hugely limited cruelty to the condemned—but have made the punishment boring for observers and punishers. Our present day ambient ethics thinks enjoying punishing is bad—without thinking punishing is bad.
Very true. In many case deterrence would be better accomplished by a brief, intense punishment (basically anything physically painful that doesn’t cause permanent damage). But that would be too icky to tolerate in our ‘enlightened’ age, so instead we lock petty criminals up in prison for months or years.
I’ve always found it odd that harming someone via deprivation of positive experience is considered ‘enlightened’, but inflicting negative experiences is ‘barbaric’.