Punishment of Kids

Punishment of kids is a springboard to thinking about punishment more generally, and punishment of adults. I'm sure that harsh treatment of children could be instrumental, effective, at least in the short term. Even if we could achieve something that achieve better deterrence and diminish bad behavior, i wouldn't be willing to do it at the price of treating human beings like animals. Solet me come back to you, scott, with the most clicheed question there is. Imagine, god forbid, that someone brutally kills your whole family. How do you think about revenge or punishment in that case?