the problem with 'eye-for-eye' justice

There is plausible scholarship suggesting that this is meant to be a limitation on unjust retaliatory punishments (e.g. killing or maiming someone for theft), and I believe the Talmud goes into quite a bit of detail on situations where no equivalent or balanced punishment/requirement is possible.

(And yes, agreed, it's Complicated and simplification makes it get really shitty really fast.)