"What is the purpose of being tough?"
What do you mean by "tough"? "Tough" is not the same as "brutal" or even "strict", yet I suspect they are what you really mean, having unwittingly adopted someone else's misuse.

You'll let me know if I've misinterpreted you, yes?

In my opinion, our culture should completely get rid of the idea of punishment, because it's pointless and harmful. It doesn't stop people from doing whatever they want, and it encourages the punishers to believe in their righteousness and omnipotence.

The purpose of our justice system should be to alter behavior in the future, not to punish for the past.

The purpose of our justice system should be to alter behavior in the future, not to punish for the past.

I disagree, to an extent.

There should always be punishment, as a deterrent. In my experience, many people decide not to commit crimes only because they are fearful of being caught. The old saying about locks-- that they keep an honest man honest-- applies to prisons as well. Punishment must be severe enough to be feared by the average person.

There should also be behavior modification, as you advocate. Most of the people who have committed crimes have to have known going to jail was a possibility. In a lot of those cases, they probably saw it as their only option. Last thing I want are those people to get out of prison and still see that as their only option. Show them some other options.

Finally, society should be protected. Those who commit atrocities such as a brutal murder or rape should lose the privilege of rehabilitation. No getting out. Ever. We simply can't risk it; nor do we have an obligation to the criminal to do so.

(P.S. What have you got against using italics in your comments?)

What I meant about purpose is that if we lock a man up in order to make him suffer, then after 10 years we'll have a pissed-off criminal who's been assimilated into prison culture and doesn't know how to live on the outside. On the other hand, if we spend that same amount of time teaching him how to be a law-abiding citizen, he still might not like it, but he'll be less likely to commit another crime.

Now, I have no idea how to go about this. I also don't know how to differentiate between the people who can be rehabilitated and the people who can't. What I know is that we can't just drop these people. We have to make it possible for them not to commit another crime.

As for italics, I don't have anything against them per se. If you want to emphasize something, use em (for italic) or strong (for bold). The reason I prefer those tags is that they convey meaning rather than appearance (although they have a default appearance in visual browsers). Imagine a screen reader; it can't pronounce italics, but it can emphasize a word verbally. That's all.