Humanity, Punishment, and Confusion

I have been thinking about the gang rape in Richmond, CA that I mentioned the other day, and have been thinking long and hard about crime and punishment...and, as Durkheim would predict, I am revolted, disgusted, and have a strange bloodlust for the perpetrators and the bystanders. But, I am also a humanist and with time I have come to question my own feelings about this and my own opinion about retribution. What would restore the situation to normalcy? My initial feeling was public castration for the actual rapists, and some serious public humiliation for the bystanders. Personally and on a side note, regardless of the punishments doled out, I don't think age should be a factor in our decision-making. Biologically and neuro-psychologically we are wired to feel sympathy for others, and the actions these boys pursued (especially after 2+ hours) at some point become meditated and the morality of the situation obvious. There is nothing I have read or seen that convinces me otherwise. I am also sympathetic to the "blame society" model, because the anger/aggression of these boys derives in part from their socioeconomic status, the pressures of being a teenager, and likely unstable familial relations. But, they are actors with a conscience and the power to make decisions like anyone else; they made a decision.

Thus, we return to the question: what is the right punishment? I said castration and humiliation. An eye for an eye would say they should be brutally raped while others watch; castration may be too light of a punishment. Or, metaphorically, castration and scooping one or both eyes out of the bystanders would send a message. But, are these the answers? How do we distinguish American human rights from those of Arab, African, or Asian nations which routinely torture, abuse, or otherwise use insane forms of punishment for the crimes? Does deterrence even work (evidence in Texas and the number of murders commmitted vis-a-vis the highest rate of capital punishment suggests a weak link)? I don't know...

Am I being weak, or too liberal in suggesting other punishments? Realistically, the situation cannot be restored. This girl is screwed for life. She will never be able to have normal relations with men, nor will she be able to deal with most people. She will live her life terrified of the dark, of alleys, of strangers, and of life itself. She is fifteen...she still has two more painfully embarrassing years of high school...then perhaps college. What is in store fore her? And, does castration really fix this? Does the death penalty fix this? I don't have an answer (though I am curious to hear what you think). I am too middle of the road perhaps to be a good judge. Part of me says take them out back and shoot them, but that becomes a slippery slope. Who else do we just pass judgment on immediately and kill or painfully torture? In most countries, where habeous corpus does not exist, no one questions the systems efficacy despite the fact that people commit crimes everywhere regardless of potential punishments. And, I don't think this particular case warrants preventative measures because I think it is a 1 in a million chance that after prom anyone would do something like this. But, man....it makes me really, really sad. My brother has two daughter. As if raising children wasn't difficult enough, now I have to think about this. If I keep writing, I will talk myself into the original punishment I feel they deserve. Bring back the public hangings?