"DSK" wrote in message
t...
You also dismiss other common punishments, such as being put in the
stock. This meant being handcuffed to a bench in the public square for a
defined period... usually 3 days or less. This was a more horrible
punishment than it sounds, in fact it was often fatal. Need I explain
why? I don't want to go into it right before lunch.

No, I did not dismiss such punishments. My whole point was that these
punishments so revolted the ivory tower clerics who believe man has no right
to punish other men that these clerics successfully lobbied to replace these
punishments with time doing penance in a penetentiary - a penetentiary that
was not intended to punish but rather to reform and, as such, provided
little if any deterrent to crime. Moreover, without the deterrent these
punishments provided, a criminal's worst fear isn't being caught and
punished; it is being maimed or killed by a victim. So, the spiritual
descendents of the churchmen who abolished punishment are now trying to
abolish self defense by funding such as Sara Brady.

IMHO we should reinstate these punishments. An hour or two sitting on the
skinney edge of a 2x6 would deter most drunk drivers far more than a fine.