So, to restate, you can inflict negative utility on someone who will later inflict negative utility on others in the future, but the former will not prevent the later. Do you do it?
Uh, no. I usually try not to make a practice of being cruel when nothing positive comes from it.
You only punish people for crimes so future crimes don't happen. If no one can see the correlation between the crime and your punishment, it does no good unless you are actually preventing them from committing a future crime.
And the for the case of punishing past crimes:
you can inflict negative utility on someone who earlier inflicted negative utility on others in the past, but the former will not prevent the latter.
I suppose you oppose that too?
Here's an edited version of a puzzle from the book "Chuck Klosterman four" by Chuck Klosterman.
When should you punish someone for a crime they will commit in the future? Discuss.