And I am not necessarily disagreeing with you on that. I think our disagreement is on the point that you think that should fall under the purview of the criminal side of the court and I contend that there is already a mechanism in place for restitution on the civil side of the court. Of course it involves people exercising their right of redress, a process they have to initiate.
But you stated:"Your idea about civil courts is partially right, but it runs into trouble when you mix criminal activity with civil tort disagreements"
And so I ask, how does my position on that run into trouble?
Because of this. We simply disagree.
I think our disagreement is on the point that you think that should fall under the purview of the criminal side of the court and I contend that there is already a mechanism in place for restitution on the civil side of the court.
IF I have a disagreement with someone on a non-criminal matter, the civil courts are the place for it to be resolved. If, however, my rights are violated criminally, it is the criminal courts that decide if I have been done wrong and who is resposible. And to have redundant actions makes no sense to me. Also I should incur no costs whatsoever when I have already paid taxes in order for the government to defend my rights.
The "punishment" of the perpetrator should first and foremost be in the form of returning me to the same condition as I was before my rights were violated. Whatever wrong done to "society" as a whole should be suborndinate to that, IMO.