The Judaic concept of an eye for and eye is often mistakenly understood literally to mean if one removes another’s eye they shall have their own eye removed. However, in practice the concept is interpreted to mean not an eye for an eye but rather to mean an eye for the monetary value of an eye. In simpler terms if a person pokes out another persons eye they have to pay a fine.
One may wonder why if the passage in the Torah was intended to mean an eye for money rather than an eye for an eye it was written as an eye for an eye. The answer is quite simple, although the perpetrator must only compensate for their crime with money they deserve to compensate with the loss of an eye.