Fair points all around.

With regards to cost I think I would make an analogy to healthcare: even with the “platinum plan”/“socialized healthcare” it’s not like any treatment is covered, and principles of triage are constantly applied right? Which I would use to conclude that “no, we shouldn’t be willing to spend an infinite amount of money on incarceration”. I think more often than we might realize, “life or death decisions” are coming down to dollar values (not to at all make the case this is an ideal system, I just wouldn’t know where to begin in a discussion of the “ideal” system). I hope you see where I’m coming from with the analogy without getting to deep into it, but basically (social/physical) illness and (judicial/medical) treatment. I’m thinking of the justice system as almost the immune system of the body-politic.

And to the second point, about the ever-looming danger of the return to vigilantism, I would just point to the history of America where we see what “justice” looks like in places where the populace don’t feel like the system is serving its supposed purpose (wild west posse justice, lynchings, etc). Again I’m not claiming this is in any way ideal, just something I see as an almost unacknowledged requirement of any “justice” system. If people were confident in the systems ability to actually rehabilitate, I don’t think most people would mind the end of capital punishment.

Frankly I grew up opposed to it, but have since come to admit “I’m not sure”. It seems to me justified in some cases, but (like you, it seems) I have next to no faith in the groups who are trusted with determining if an action is “justified”.

Fair points all around.

With regards to cost I think I would make an analogy to healthcare: even with the “platinum plan”/“socialized healthcare” it’s not like any treatment is covered, and principles of triage are constantly applied right? Which I would use to conclude that “no, we shouldn’t be willing to spend an infinite amount of money on incarceration”. I think more often than we might realize, “life or death decisions” are coming down to dollar values (not to at all make the case this is an ideal system, I just wouldn’t know where to begin in a discussion of the “ideal” system). I hope you see where I’m coming from with the analogy without getting to deep into it, but basically (social/physical) illness and (judicial/medical) treatment. I’m thinking of the justice system as almost the immune system of the body-politic.

And to the second point, about the ever-looming danger of the return to vigilantism, I would just point to the history of America where we see what “justice” looks like in places where the populace don’t feel like the system is serving it’s supposed purpose (wild west posse justice, lynchings, etc). Again I’m not claiming this is in any way ideal, just something I see as an almost unacknowledged requirement of any “justice” system. If people were confident in the systems ability to actually rehabilitate, I don’t think most people would mind the end of capital punishment.

Frankly I grew up opposed to it, but have since come to admit “I’m not sure”. It seems to me justified in some cases, but (like you, it seems) I have next to no faith in the groups who are trusted with determining if an action is “justified”.