I got the chit beat out of me real bad by two older kids I did not even know when I was in grade school- solely because I was a "Kike." They must have used that and other slurs 10 times while holding me up and pummeling me and then kicking/stomping me while I was on the ground. Should their punishment merely have stopped at the penalty for fighting?

Neo-Nazi's spray painted the outer walls of my synagogue with swastikas and anti-Semitic threats/slurs. Should their punishment (conviction) have been solely for damage to private property with graffiti?

rfenst wrote:

Punishment is an outdated concept. We should be looking at rehabilitation, education and training.

HockeyDad wrote:

I got the chit beat out of me real bad by two older kids I did not even know when I was in grade school- solely because I was a "Kike." They must have used that and other slurs 10 times while holding me up and pummeling me and then kicking/stomping me while I was on the ground. Should their punishment merely have stopped at the penalty for fighting?

Neo-Nazi's spray painted the outer walls of my synagogue with swastikas and anti-Semitic threats/slurs. Should their punishment (conviction) have been solely for damage to private property with graffiti?

rfenst wrote:

We’ve had this conversation before. I live by the mantra of “my rights begin where yours end.” So I will always believe that no one has the right to dictate how someone else should feel. If someone wants to hate someone else because of the color, creed, sexual preference or whatever so be it. That’s their right.

Would the a$$ beating have hurt any less if they called you Robert instead of a kike while pounding you? Probably not. Would the paint inside the synagogue been easier to remove if it said “dine at the y” instead of being swastikas? Doubtful.

At the end of the day the punishment should fit the crime. We shouldn’t allow emotions to arbitrarily enhance or decrease the severity of punishment because we get in the game of chasing a dog by the tail trying to meet different expectations based on some unmeasurable degree of severity.

Abrignac wrote:

We’ve had this conversation before. I live by the mantra of “my rights begin where yours end.” So I will always believe that no one has the right to dictate how someone else should feel. If someone wants to hate someone else because of the color, creed, sexual preference or whatever so be it. That’s their right.

Would the a$$ beating have hurt any less if they called you Robert instead of a kike while pounding you? Probably not. Would the paint inside the synagogue been easier to remove if it said “dine at the y” instead of being swastikas? Doubtful.

At the end of the day the punishment should fit the crime. We shouldn’t allow emotions to arbitrarily enhance or decrease the severity of punishment because we get in the game of chasing a dog by the tail trying to meet different expectations based on some unmeasurable degree of severity.

Abrignac wrote: