erratio

I *think* that's the present US system (although technicalities differ from state to state and most states no longer implement it), but I'm not sure. It makes sense to me, but only so long as the crime already involved murder. As to punishments for other crimes, it's hard to say. I think that we need to decide whether the incarceration system is preventative or punitive. If we're simply trying to ensure that they don't do it again, well there are probably more cost-effective ways of doing that (without the amputation of the offending appendage!). Also, if we're simply trying to *punish* them, aren't there better ways of doing that as well? Prison, for many of its inmates, is not much of a punishment.

The biggest problem with the prison system (in my opinion) is that it's the best place to make criminals. America imprisons more people than any other country in the world, and one of these days most of those people are going to be released. By that time they'll know exactly what they did wrong, they'll have their heads full of all sorts of ideas about how to avoid getting caught the second (or third, etc) time around, a real bone to pick with the society that had them locked away, and viable 'business' contacts to help them out. That's some system! Most people don't learn that much that quickly in university.