We're not too far from White Bear

Crime and punishment have always come hand in hand. It is almost impossible to have society without some kind of system to punish those who commit crime. But when is this punishment too much? And how do we determine if the person has faced justice? These questions aren't easy ones, but every society has had a way to deal with it. The Romans would crucify criminals in public and line them up along the roads to intimidate those visiting their city and to serve as an example for other people. Cruel and unusual ? We could say so now, but our system isn't perfect either. We think that people like the Romans were barbaric and cruel, but to what extents would we go now? Our modern technology makes us think that we wouldn't go to the verge of such atrocities, but I think we all have thought of some pretty cruel punishments for people who commit crimes in our heads. If no one has thought of what they wouldn't do to a rapist or a murderer well then they're just lying. But when the time comes we can all see that barbarian inside us that would allow a gruesome punishment at least for some of the criminals we see on TV.
On first reaction watching White Bear I couldn't comprehend why all of those people would take part in a public spectacle of human ridicule and torture, but further analyzing the situation I think that at least some part of that punishment was deserved for the woman who participated in the abduction and torturing of a little girl. Because the story is introduced backwards we get to experience the story through the eyes of the "victim" thinking this society is backwards and wicked. If the story were told starting off with the little girl getting kidnapped maybe we would have had a different reaction at first.
I do think that at some point the punishment for the woman became no longer focused on punishment for her, but in entertaining the public. At that point the punishment became a modern day Colosseum and could be considered torture. We do not indeed have all of the facts of the crime or of the punishment, which would fill the void of many questions that would clear the blurry line of making this punishment just.
Crime and punishment is and will always continue to be a  hard thing to figure out, and no matter how much we advance someone will always be unhappy and think that the set punishment is unfair or not just. Even so, justice has to be served somehow, probably not to the extent of White Bear, but it is still possible. Although we all want to think we would never take part in that or support it, if the crime was something that resonated with us I think most of us would get on board with the punishment.