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Notes -
Can you explain what you mean by "quite authoritarian on crime"? The only concrete example you give is your friends "complaining about how e.g. the NYC subway used to be incredibly safe but has now become a creepy unpleasant space to inhabit,* and something needs to be done," which is not what I would describe as "authoritarian," let alone "quite authoritarian."
I don't understand this. You can be believe that "wrongdoers deserve to be punished, in proportion to their crimes, as a matter of justice or right" (the definition in your link) while simultaneously supporting rehabilitation, addressing social conditions which are conducive to crime, etc. If you are saying that you think that punishment should solely be a function of the crime, rather than partly a function of the criminal (eg, potential mitigating or aggravating circumstances such as age, prior record, etc), then isn't that tantamount to treating them as cattle, rather than as individuals?
*As I have mentioned here before, I am very skeptical of this sort of claim, because I ride the NYC subway every day, and have friends who do so, and have never heard such complaints.
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