Yes, people have a desire for justice, for fairness. This desire is natural, as well as it is right. Therefore it deserves to be addressed properly. It is also however, as you say, not what is best for society. Therefore its harm needs to be minimized, while still properly addressing the desire.
Which is why we have mostly symbolic punishments. And they work very well. Already, most of our punishments are symbolic substitutes for much, much worse punishments we could do (and used to do) to people. We don't chop off body parts any more, banish people or torture people to death (well the US does, but I hope we agree this is not a required part of a good justice system).
You deserve to have your desire for justice and fairness met, while society deserves to have its needs for public safety, deterrence and rehabilitation met. You can't really get the benefits of safety or rehabilitation symbolically.
Which is why we have mostly symbolic punishments. And they work very well. Already, most of our punishments are symbolic substitutes for much, much worse punishments we could do (and used to do) to people. We don't chop off body parts any more, banish people or torture people to death (well the US does, but I hope we agree this is not a required part of a good justice system).
You deserve to have your desire for justice and fairness met, while society deserves to have its needs for public safety, deterrence and rehabilitation met. You can't really get the benefits of safety or rehabilitation symbolically.
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