Quote:
Originally Posted by FuglyStick
I don't know if a dollar amount can compensate someone who has had a part of their life stolen by the justice system.
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I don't believe it can, whether their life was affected by incarceration, disease, or anything else.
The question of worth, it seems, is actually two separate issues: first, the compensation to a person for their loss, and second, the cost of fixing or preventing that loss.
The second is valuable in determining how to spend funds, e.g. do I spend $10,000 to save 5 people from car crashes or do I spend $10,000 to save 100 people from malaria? This shouldn't imply that the lives of those who would have died in crashes are worth 20 times more than those who would have died from malaria, but it may affect who actually ends up dying.
The first is so vague that I think it's impossible to come up with any amount more precise than "not completely ridiculous", and even this is unlikely to garner widespread agreement. Suppose you lose your hearing, how much is that worth? If you think no amount of money can truly compensate you, does that affect your injury's worth? Is it worth more for a musician than for a painter? Does your age at injury matter? The list of possible considerations is endless.