Punitive Pain Rays

[Elok]

That's the thing, it's not torture. It's corporal punishment, and it was done as a form of discipline for thousands of years. It doesn't cause PTSD or anything else torture does, it's just another form of punishment. The pain ray makes a difference because it allows the delivery of an exact "dose" of pain with no variation, no side effects. Flogging is hard to do exactly right, can vary in effect, causes scarring. This is just a great deal of pain (probably a good deal more than flogging). C'mon, now, rational argument? Anyone?

[Vesayen]

Originally posted by DaShi
Cruel and unusual punishment

Most certainly is.

[Elok]

So being made to live in a dank concrete box for ten years while your family grows up without you is civilized treatment, whereas thirty seconds of sharp, surgically-precise pain is not? How so? What are your criteria for judging non-cruelty?

[Vesayen]

Did you mean in the OP to use short term pain instead of prison sentences? In that case I change my response. That would be ineffective, it would not deter others, or remove criminals from society.

I also have serious problems with locking people away for years but I am unaware of any better alternative.

[Bkeela]

[Heraclitus]

Damm you Bkeela, I was clean for three days!