- 28 Feb 2016 04:08
#14656291
I would like to know of systems of punishment (or just 'keeping people in line') that are not just the normal system of conviction then imprisonment or death.
Systems that are in use, have been in use, or you hope someday could be in use are welcome. They could have been used by legitimate or illegitimate governments. They might be something you think would work well.
To start off, I will introduce a theoretical punishment system that I thank would be great (and possibly tragic).
I think it would work well (likely only in a technocracy or advanced totalitarian government) to have a system that (literally) takes no prisoners. People would be judged on how bad of an offense they committed in terms of how much use they have wasted. Yes, this means that killing an old woman in cold blood, torturing a murderer for weeks, but not being caused to miss a day of work, and strangling a disabled baby wouldn't be thought of as serious crimes. The accused would have a trial in which he/she could dispute the facts (whether or not they are guilty, did he kill 5 or 7 people, how much longer would the person have likely lived, etc.) to reduce the severity of the sentence. Once the trial is done, a judge must decide the severity, taking into pre-existing algorithms and things like whether or not the defendant lied about the severity. The severity of the crime is judged in terms of negative points. Every person will have some (theoretically) positive number of points attributed to himself. This number is based on expected usefulness. If the negative points of the crime do not bring the criminal's total points below 0, he is allowed to live with no punishment other than maybe a reeducation of some kind depending on the crime (help for addiction and mental health issues is assumed). Once a person's usefulness is negative, a specially appointed board will decide if he lives or dies. If there is more expected crime, he is executed cheaply and efficiently. If he is deemed low-risk, he may live out the rest of his life closely monitored, with no chance of job promotion, and very restricted recreational time (basically a slave to the government but with some facade of autonomy).
I hope to see some very novel ideas. Hopefully no positive-reinforcement believers.
Systems that are in use, have been in use, or you hope someday could be in use are welcome. They could have been used by legitimate or illegitimate governments. They might be something you think would work well.
To start off, I will introduce a theoretical punishment system that I thank would be great (and possibly tragic).
I think it would work well (likely only in a technocracy or advanced totalitarian government) to have a system that (literally) takes no prisoners. People would be judged on how bad of an offense they committed in terms of how much use they have wasted. Yes, this means that killing an old woman in cold blood, torturing a murderer for weeks, but not being caused to miss a day of work, and strangling a disabled baby wouldn't be thought of as serious crimes. The accused would have a trial in which he/she could dispute the facts (whether or not they are guilty, did he kill 5 or 7 people, how much longer would the person have likely lived, etc.) to reduce the severity of the sentence. Once the trial is done, a judge must decide the severity, taking into pre-existing algorithms and things like whether or not the defendant lied about the severity. The severity of the crime is judged in terms of negative points. Every person will have some (theoretically) positive number of points attributed to himself. This number is based on expected usefulness. If the negative points of the crime do not bring the criminal's total points below 0, he is allowed to live with no punishment other than maybe a reeducation of some kind depending on the crime (help for addiction and mental health issues is assumed). Once a person's usefulness is negative, a specially appointed board will decide if he lives or dies. If there is more expected crime, he is executed cheaply and efficiently. If he is deemed low-risk, he may live out the rest of his life closely monitored, with no chance of job promotion, and very restricted recreational time (basically a slave to the government but with some facade of autonomy).
I hope to see some very novel ideas. Hopefully no positive-reinforcement believers.
What am I wrong about?