Some laws really infringe on my personal rights and needs. I need marijuana, and I am indebted to the folks who are growing and transporting and dealing it to me. I am really sad to think that any of us in this chain from grower to me could end up behind bars for it.
Another thing is, what is your conception of "punishment"? Say there was a crime that had a true victim, there is an expectation that there be some "payback", or whatever you want to call it, by torturing the guilty party with sensory deprivation to one degree or another and restriction on dignity and freedom of movement in a building specifically and grotesquely designed for such a purpose. Is the prison term, or is it not, a "sufficient" "restitution"? Are the books cleared after that? Or does part of the inherent and agreed upon punishment include a lifelong black mark on the record of a person so that everything after the prison term is made much more difficult? This part of the punishment is not spelled into law, and yet it exists. People seem to have different sentiments than the laws and punishments they supposedly have created.
