Please consider the following scenario.
You are in a world where genetic augmentation has lead to the prevalence of superhuman abilities such as super strength, pyrokenesis and flight to name a few. By all accounts people in society are living in a superhero-esque dream where everyone has these abilities. Unfortunately that also means people of malicious intent also have them.
Say one of these superhumans was a career criminal who used their super ability in carrying out the heinous acts such as grand theft, mind control and aggravated jaywalking to name a few. After a lengthy investigation while none of their crimes warrant the death penalty it is severe enough to consider a new alternative in dealing with superhumans.
You are now in possession of a magical potion that when administered to someone, will permanently shut off someones superhuman abilities. And for one reason or another you are now in a position to enact it as part of the sentencing of this would-be criminal. Your actions will set a new precedence on dealing with superhuman criminals as well as the act of manipulating ones genetic code as a form of punishment. The implication would be that someone down the line might be wrongfully convicted but suffer from the permanent genetic modification done to them.
But would you take that risk? To punish this criminal are you willing to use state sanctioned genetic modification against a person's will as a form of punishment?
What are your thoughts NS?
