There’s no evidence that what feels good to you actually reduces the odds of the perpetrator committing crimes again or reduces the rate of those crimes in society in general, and good evidence that what doesn’t feel good to you does those things. So you will have to decide if you would rather feel good about how the person who did something wrong was punished or have less crime in your society.
For absolutely known murder with no possibility of mistaken identity (a school shooter caught on camera and captured on the scene, for example), I am ok with vindictive punishment. Kill multiple people, lose your freedom. Live in a cage for the next sixty years. That’s the level of proof that I need for guilt-free incarceration.
There’s no evidence that what feels good to you actually reduces the odds of the perpetrator committing crimes again or reduces the rate of those crimes in society in general, and good evidence that what doesn’t feel good to you does those things. So you will have to decide if you would rather feel good about how the person who did something wrong was punished or have less crime in your society.
For absolutely known murder with no possibility of mistaken identity (a school shooter caught on camera and captured on the scene, for example), I am ok with vindictive punishment. Kill multiple people, lose your freedom. Live in a cage for the next sixty years. That’s the level of proof that I need for guilt-free incarceration.