Does the U.S. criminal justice system do more harm than good?

[Ferguson97]

would we be better off without it?  No, of course not and only a complete and total moron, blinded by some amazingly stupid biases could possibly think we wouldn't be.  Seriously, think about it for 2 funking seconds.


of course "yes" is winning, you people are idiots.

This is a very poor argument.  We clearly need SOME type of criminal justice system.  All countries have one.  That's not the question.  The question is whether the one we have does more harm than good.  And the answer to that isn't nearly as clear as your post acts like it is. 

if we didn't have it, society would be worse.  Thus it doesn't do more harm than good.

That's a very simplistic way of looking at it. I don't know why you're assuming that you have to compare the current system to no system at all.

[Ferguson97]

it's what the phrase "do more harm than good" means....what else could it mean? 

No it's not? You're not comparing it to a specific alternative, you're looking at it in a vacuum. "Does the good things that the criminal justice system do outweigh the bad it does".

The question was not "compare the pros and cons of keeping vs abolishing the US justice system and replacing it with nothing".

We're adding up the "harms" and the "goods", seeing which pile is bigger.

Yes, exactly! That doesn't require you to compare it to an imagined alternative, or a not replacing it at all.