You don't have to forgive anyone. Getting the retribution you think is just and deserved means giving the state the power to inflict that retribution on anyone it wants. There are consequences to having the brutish government punish people on your behalf and they always come back to harm the weak and innocent.
Justice systems don't operate to make people feel better or make the evil suffer.
> Getting the retribution you think is just and deserved means giving the state the power to inflict that retribution on anyone it wants.
Not giving that authority to the State means that it is retained by the People. The whole point of a justice system is to give the State a monopoly on violence: in return for giving up their right to vendetta, the People expect that the State will be scrupulous and fair in its prosecution of criminals.
Indeed, this is the foundation of the legitimacy of the State, and it is why a State which refuses to execute justice will eventually lose legitimacy in the eyes of its People.
I'd prefer the criminal justice system focus on rehabilitation rather than punishment. I'd rather we try to make society safer than exact revenge: we all have different ideas of revenge, but a safer society ought to be pretty easy to agree on.
You don't really know what forgiveness is, but I'll help you , it's self-sacrifice, you can't hope to forgive someone if you're just waiting for them to make you feel better, because they can't replace what you lost.
