What’s the purpose of imprisonment in the first place?
To guard the society from criminals.
To punish the criminals (revenge on the behalf of the relatives/victims).
To redeem the criminals (so that they don’t commit another crime).
The way Harry’s been acting, seems like he’d strongly prioritize #3 over the other two. And considering that he didn’t hold too much of a grudge against Draco for gom jabar’ing him, and believed that Bellatrix can be turned back into an okay human being, it seems like he would want to devise some sort of a method to redeem criminals.
And thanks, TobyBartels, for noticing my circular vocabulary issue.
I’m pretty sure that one of the common purposes of punishment is to make the people who are imposing it feel better. This may or may not be a glitch by some utilitarian standards.
Further, it is worth breaking up (2. Revenge) into two parts:
To deter other criminals.
So that you are the kind of person that other criminals, given mind reading instincts far more advanced than your ability to adapt your emotional responses, would not have f@#ed with in the first place.
What’s the purpose of imprisonment in the first place?
To guard the society from criminals.
To punish the criminals (revenge on the behalf of the relatives/victims).
To redeem the criminals (so that they don’t commit another crime).
The way Harry’s been acting, seems like he’d strongly prioritize #3 over the other two. And considering that he didn’t hold too much of a grudge against Draco for gom jabar’ing him, and believed that Bellatrix can be turned back into an okay human being, it seems like he would want to devise some sort of a method to redeem criminals.
And thanks, TobyBartels, for noticing my circular vocabulary issue.
[Obsolete material has been moved to the bottom.]
It’s worth breaking (1) up into two parts:
To keep those specific criminals from harming society.
To deter other criminals.
None of this affects your main point much: that in any case #3 is very important to Harry. (So I vote you up regardless.)
[Obsolete material follows.]
You ask what’s the purpose of punishment, and one of your answers is punishment. I have two hypotheses towards what you actually meant:
and
Did you mean one of these, and if so then which?
I’m pretty sure that one of the common purposes of punishment is to make the people who are imposing it feel better. This may or may not be a glitch by some utilitarian standards.
This is what I meant by ‘revenge’, although wedifrid (in your comment’s sibling) seems to have interpreted that differently.
Further, it is worth breaking up (2. Revenge) into two parts:
To deter other criminals.
So that you are the kind of person that other criminals, given mind reading instincts far more advanced than your ability to adapt your emotional responses, would not have f@#ed with in the first place.