Llanite t1_ja1ns6h wrote on February 26, 2023 at 4:15 AM

Reply to comment by greatdrams23 in ELI5. What happens to ‘criminals’ when the law changes and what they were imprisoned for is no longer illegal? by L0rdTeddingt0n

They are punished because they violated the laws and broke a social contract. The punishment is that they are no longer part of the society.

The fact that a law was amended doesn't mean they did not break it in the past.

NextSoft2224 t1_ja2fqwl wrote on February 26, 2023 at 9:42 AM

Genuine question: How about for cases that a law violates human rights? Alan Turing's case for example.

Llanite t1_ja3ojcy wrote on February 26, 2023 at 4:45 PM

Human rights are just something we made up. Slavery used to be something we considered ok, now we don't and it's illegal, then we made freedom a human right and grant clemency to everyone.