Corporal Punishment

I've always been a big fan of corporal punishment, because it's kind of naughty, and sometimes when you are a bad girl, you just need to be reprimanded.

However, I'd never thought of Koranic Justice vs. US Justice in the same manner as Brad Plummer and the fine folks at the New Republic. I couldn't read the New Republic article because you need a subscription. But Brad was nice enought to give us a free excerpt.

At least in regard to cruelty, it's not at all clear that the system of punishment that has evolved in the West is less barbaric than the grotesque practices of Islam. Skeptical? Ask yourself: would you rather be subjected to a few minutes of intense pain and considerable public humiliation, or to be locked away for two or three years in a prison cell crowded with ill-tempered sociopaths? Would you rather lose a hand or spend 10 years or more in a typical state prison? I have taken my own survey on this matter. I have found no one who does not find the Islamic system hideous. And I have found no one who, given the choices mentioned above, would not prefer its penalties to our own.

Public flogging anyone?