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French ex-president Sarkozy begins jail sentence

(www.bbc.com)
375 points begueradj | 5 comments | 22 Oct 25 05:49 UTC | HN request time: 0.932s | source
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yard2010 ◴[22 Oct 25 08:45 UTC] No.45666375[source]▶
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tauwauwau ◴[22 Oct 25 09:07 UTC] No.45666530[source]▶
Law doesn't seek to punish but to rehabilitate. Act of taking freedom away from the criminal is violent enough. Treating them badly is just a sign of unfair/poor society that cannot maintain (afford to keep) it's promise to be civil to all citizens.
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rat9988 ◴[22 Oct 25 09:48 UTC] No.45666812[source]▶
> Law doesn't seek to punish

Then who is tasked with delivering justice to the victims?

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n4r9 ◴[22 Oct 25 10:10 UTC] No.45666964[source]▶
Must justice include punishment? If someone hits me, I'd much rather they take responsibility, apologise, and work on themselves to become a better person, than simply get locked up for a while.
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philipallstar ◴[22 Oct 25 12:45 UTC] No.45668230[source]▶
Those are not the only two options that they can choose from. And being hit is a very minimal example. Would you say the same for rape? No punishment required; just apologise and work on yourself?
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thih9 ◴[22 Oct 25 12:55 UTC] No.45668343[source]▶
You skipped the “take responsibility”. In case of a more serious crime a simple apology is indeed not enough. But it should still be possible to proceed with something more productive for everyone than putting the perpetrator behind bars. As you say, there are many options.
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philipallstar ◴[22 Oct 25 12:58 UTC] No.45668387[source]▶
Take responsibility is just a euphemism, though. For some people that is someone going behind bars. What do you actually mean?
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lostlogin ◴[22 Oct 25 13:15 UTC] No.45668637[source]▶
Apply the same thought process to ‘punishment’. Those who spend a lot of time in prison seem to come out worse and reoffend.

How is that helpful?

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1. philipallstar ◴[22 Oct 25 13:47 UTC] No.45669102[source]▶
This sort of thinking always misses that part of the reason for punishment is deterrent of others.
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2. n4r9 ◴[22 Oct 25 14:07 UTC] No.45669408[source]▶
I think most people who commit a crime either do it in the heat of the moment, or believe that they're very unlikely to get caught. The distant prospect of punishment doesn't apply in either case.

I guess there are some edge cases. Drug smugglers for example are probably aware of the rough probability of detection and weigh it up against the length of jail time. But I reckon Sarkozy thought he'd just get away with it and didn't even consider what the potential punishment would be.

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3. philipallstar ◴[22 Oct 25 14:15 UTC] No.45669502[source]▶
> But I reckon Sarkozy thought he'd just get away with it and didn't even consider what the potential punishment would be.

It's worth considering then that the next person who has the option to do this might behave differently, given Sarkozy has not got away with it.

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4. n4r9 ◴[22 Oct 25 14:32 UTC] No.45669732{3}[source]▶
There's definitely some truth to that. There are situations where someone might restrain themselves because of the consequences of getting caught. I suppose the question is whether the consequence needs to be punishment as opposed to correction or isolation. In the case of a narcissist like Sarkozy, the reputaional tarnish of being publicly labeled as guilty would be an emotional blow.
5. esafak ◴[22 Oct 25 14:50 UTC] No.45669990[source]▶
It has to be a deterrent rather than punishment, because crimes can't be undone; it's better to prevent them.