Indignation against crime is a natural emotion and causes men to think that severe penalties are desirable. But if the object is to prevent crime, not merely to give pleasure to those who inflict punishment, a more scientific attitude is desirable. ... The criminal presents a problem, psychological, educational, sociological and economic; this difficult problem is not best handled in a state of blind rage. All arguments for corporal punishment spring from anger, not from scientific understanding. As men become more scientific, such barbaric practices will be no longer tolerated.
Source: "On corporal punishment" [From: Mortals and Others: Bertrand Russell's American Essays, 1931-1935, v.1 (1975)]
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