Quote Originally Posted by otherone View Post
the individual, acting out of self-preservation, will make mistakes. Your argument that the state, acting out of self-preservation has the same right. It does not. I have a right to defend myself. The state has no rights.
I didn't say anything about the state having rights. All I'm saying is that, state or no state, any attempt by anyone to deal with crime will inevitably result in innocents being harmed. Anyone calling for criminals to be punished, either by a state or by private parties, is accepting that risk, because they find the trade-off worthwhile. We are both taking a pragmatist position.