system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
I believe that punishment should be based on the action taken alone, and the consequences should have absolutely no bearing on it. CMV.

First and foremost, my apologies if this is a repost- it seems like a somewhat obvious CMV candidate. I could find no post like it though, so please delete this and redirect me if this view has been expressed before.

It is hard to significantly expand on the view as presented in the title; I believe simply that, in accordance with any account of punishment I am familiar with, it is both more productive and fairer to disregard the consequences of the action. For example, I believe that the penalty for causing death by drunken driving should be the same as that for simply being caught drunkenly driving. Whether that is achieved by raising the latter or lessening the former is a difficult problem to consider, but a separate one.

The aforementioned consequence of my position is the main reason why I would like to have my view changed; it is uncomfortable to have to defend the position that someone who recklessly causes the death of a child should receive what many would consider no more than a slap on the wrist. I have yet to be convinced, however, that the driver in such a case is any more deserving of punishment than a driver who makes it home without incident at the same level of intoxication. So please, my good redditors, CMV.
gpt
This idea gets a little bit messy in practice, because luck and circumstances play a role in virtually all actions. In your drunk driving example, how would you punish someone who *intends* to drive drunk but passes out before they start the car? Or what about someone who *intends* to drive drunk, but then is offered a ride by a good samaritan? Are they as bad as the person who managed to drive drunk? If not, it seems like you are giving them the benefit of the doubt due to consequences outside of their control, which goes against your guiding principle. If we knew with certainty that they were going to drive drunk before they got lucky, should we still punish them?

We generally stick to consequences rather than intent and potential consequences because there's such a massive disparity in action and consequences based on events outside of our control.