What MGibson said in his first post here - bullets are too expensive, most likely, so you have to do it another way.
I believe that everyone has the right to defend themselves. Normally we do not exercise this right personally, since there is a significant chance that we might make a mistake, and execute the wrong person. So, we have court procedures to make it less likely that a mistake will be make, defense attorneys, etc.
But in a situation like this, there is no social contract whereby we give up our right to exercise personal justice in return for checks and balances and procedures.
Letting them go is not an option, since they will be a perpetual threat to our group. They will constantly harrass and raid us, and one night we’ll let our guards down and get our throats cut. Wounding them is just a slow method of killing them, since if you wound them severly enough that they can’t follow us then they can’t get food for themselves either, and they’ll die, assuming that their wounds could even heal without infection etc.
Slavery won’t work, since we are a nomadic band. You have to have reached a sedentary agricultural economy to make slavery work, otherwise your “slaves” can just run off.
Procedures for POWs won’t work, since they presume a state level of organization that you project you will have future conflicts with. These guys are the last of their band.
Nope, the only option is to execute the vermin like the insects they are. Make it a community affair, everyone from the old people to the kids gets a few licks in. And don’t waste ammunition, for crying out loud! Not when there are plenty of large rocks lying around, and human skulls are so fragile.
You don’t?
They ambushed our camp, killed our family/friends, raped the “women, men and children”, and then started in on our food.
Are you sure that you don’t see any problem with letting them go?
Here is a problem. Lets say I’m one of the bandits that you let go. I return to my base camp and explain to my friends that I found a sweet spot a few miles away where the food is good, and the "women, men, and children are ready for raping.
Three days later we come back to eat all your food and then kill you all one by one.
Consider, also, that there is no ‘civilization’ in any meaningful sense. As such, there are no laws but those that exist within your (my? our?) tribe. So it is unreasonable to assume that the raiders have committed any crime in a universal sense. Just as it would be unreasonable to assume that if the group decides to kill the raiders, that that action is ‘criminal.’ It may be immoral, but not criminal.
So, they have killed several of us, and we have killed an undetermined number of them. In that respect, we seem to be ‘even.’ Such is life in the brutal, post-apocalyptic future.
Were I the leader of our band (the raidees, not the raiders), I would probably be pretty pissed. Maybe even seething. No, I think blinded by rage and hatred would be a more accurate description. However, this would be tempered by the fact that we have, to some extent, extracted some degree of revenge already. As noted, we have already killed several of them in return, and the remaining 5 are now at our mercy.
Now, about that rape thing… I don’t like that. The question is, did any of these guys do the raping? If so, anyone who was raped by them gets to choose their fate. If not, it’s a non-issue.
The food and supplies… I don’t like that, either. However, from a pragmatic standpoint, we’ve got a number of casualties, so, while our supplies are less than they were, our needs are now less than they were as well. If we are striving to be a ‘good guy’ tribe, then we should allow them to live, possibly giving them the choice between joining us or being thrown to the wolves. Those who choose to join us (they may have been bullied into the raid by their leader) get the “cross us and you’re dead” lecture. Those who don’t get blindfolded and dropped off in the wilderness well away from our campsite, unarmed, where they will be left to fend for themselves or die trying.
Such is life in the brutal, post-apocalyptic future.
Oh, and if we’re a ‘bad guy’ tribe, we kill them and make weapons from their bones.
My apologies. I tend to look for the question behind the question.
In the absence of any higher form of authority, your little band of family and friends is a de facto sovereign state. Think of it as a nomadic tribe or as a city-state, if you will; whatever it is, the raiders are not part of it, and therefore, they are foreign invaders. Criminals are errant members of a society, while enemies are those who come from the outside.
The thing is, you seem to think of killing as a matter of punishment, of “justice”. It isn’t. As a small, beleaguered society on the constant verge of obliteration, justice is a luxury you can’t really afford. No, as leader, your first responsibility is to provide security. That’s why stealing your food is as serious a crime as rape - without food, you’ll starve, and even if you don’t, it’ll set a bad precident. It’s not though these raiders are necessarily evil. In other circumstances, you may have been like them yourself, perhaps. It’s because they threaten you and yours that they must die.
Now, some people here have offered alternatives to killing, such as maiming, banishing, enslavement or adoption to your society. These options should be examined on a case to case basis - a man who enjoys rape and torture is probably a poor candidate for adoption, for example. The thing is, you shouldn’t think about what they deserve. You should think about what your people* need*.
One final note: certain people here have recommended death by torture. I disagree - slit their throats cleanly, and them saw off their heads and put them on pikes surrounding your camp. Wanton cruelty tends to currupt a society, and if your people get a taste of blood, they may turn upon their own.
Two words: Occam’s Razor.
Two more words: Waste the bastards.
NEXT!