The Importance of Punishing Innocent People

Even if we thought that the suffering of bad people was a good thing, I think we should doubt that the state should bring it about. After all, think about the way in which the state brings about the suffering of people through the criminal justice system. It spends an enormous amount of resources in doing this. Have we got anything better to spend our money on? Why can't we make good people much happier? That seems like something much more worth spending our money on than making bad people suffer.