It might seem more civil on the surface to direct corrective action at the exact sources of transgression. Rather than lay waste to the whole garden, pull up by the roots only those noxious weeds that have invaded it. But this is a solution that does not cohere easily with our ingrained notions of justice. And in a modern free market democracy, improving people's minds is generally considered an authority too powerful to be allowed to the state. The state can be trusted only so far as to put a person to death, not reform him.