Bill, you are changing the subject. As you may recall, I never claimed that there is a reason for the retribution approach to crime, because there is no reason for any ethical concepts or systems. There is no reason for retribution just as there is no reason for compassion. You just accpet them and the normative systems in which they are based or you do not. It is you who insist that your reason is bigger than my reason when it comes to accepting normative systems. The question that you evaded was intented to point out that the big reason you claim is, in fact, based on the lack of information.
Wojtek