Quote Originally Posted by Redleg
Punishment is all about retribution - Prevention is a side effect of the punishment. Depriving individuals of freedoms granted by society is well within the possiblities of society.
The society couldn't care less on retribution. Any damages to a victim or the state are always second to the actual punishment. The punishment itself doesn't really mean something for the society, society doesn't understand revenge.
You can divide in punishment in 3 categories:

1. Prevention (thanks for the word, by the way ).
A law is there for a reason. The punishment for breaking this law should be so costly that it prevents people breaking it. Very much like military balance actually.

2. Protection.
Some crimes require the society to be protected from the individual, therefore the punishment has to remove the individual from the society, hence protecting it from his actions.

3. Retribution
This is the moral part. Some would argue that "re-education" is better than revenge. I believe that this portion is always the one that is under hefty discussions. Bottomline is that you want to satisfy the victim and teach the criminal, in what ever order that works for you. For the society itself it's irrelevant as long as 1 and 2 are fulfilled.

I think that its important to identify the society here. Its a powerstructure with the purpose to organise and standardize a group of individuals. The main objectives of the society are more important than the individuals and therefore there are many times disagreements which has to be enforced.