| | It is discouraging to see objectivists, of all people, stuck in this silly medieval model of thinking about issues such as "responsibility," "criminality," "justice..."
Justice is when I get and keep what I have earned. It has nothing to do with causing pain to some other person, based on judging their character or lack thereof, and then figuring out how many months or years they should be locked up, or tortured, or killed.
In a just society, if someone attempted to murder another person and failed, and that fact was known in general, then the result would be that many doors would shut to that person, on the totally rational grounds that his or her behavior indicated a risk to others who chose to deal with him or her. The object of the intended murder might also sue for damages, based on the actual level of risk they were subject to. In general, life would become more expensive and less enjoyable for the would-be murderer, perhaps quite a lot so, depending upon the circumstances of the attempted murder.
The elements of character and responsibility play a role, not in some Alice in Wonderland search for the perfect "punishment" but rather as things to take into account in ones dealings with the person - or not. On a more concrete basis than the preceding paragraph, assuming that we have a society in which people have the equivalent of a credit card, which specifies via a secure ID how much general insurance or bonding they carry to back up their Social Contract, which is my best bet for how human society will evolve in the near to mid term, then someone who attempted premeditated murder over a trivial cause would be paying very high insurance rates for a fairly low rating once the news made it to the insurance adjusters.
Such a person would be effectively excluded from a wide range of enjoyable and profitable social opportunities as a consequence of their poor character. It would probably take years of righteous behavior and sign-offs by highly rated therapists to bring the premiums down and undo the loss.
On the other hand, if our murderer actually succeeded in killing his intended victim, then the victim's friends, relatives, business partners, employers, etc., would likely sue the murderer for their loss, and the fact of the murder having actually happened would likely carry more weight with the insurance agents than a mere attempt, even if the victim only escaped the attempt by pure dumb luck. I.e., the murderer would be spending the rest of his or her life literally paying for his or her crime.
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