“Why do you bother to write when you clearly don’t or won’t read?”
Because I’m badgering you and it’s FUN!
“I am not arguing for punishment; I am arguing that socially corrosive conduct ought to be made good through some form of restitution.”
Oh come on, punishment=restitution.
This would be like me saying, “I’m not arguing that you should eat, I’m arguing that you should take oral nourishment somehow.”
This is a fairly pedestrian legal distinction:
Punishment is inflicted to deter recurrence of the offence, restitution is imposed to meet the requirement of justice that those who cause harm or damage contribute to making the injury whole.
Making an oil company clean up an oil spill, for instance is not punishment; it’s restitution. The punitive damages are usually calculated as a multiple of the actual damages incurred for which restitution is required.