GOOD EXPLANATION re EYE--for-an-EYE in OLD TESTAMENT

I WAS LISTENING to catholic radio yesterday (3/5/15) as I took an exercise walk on the Corona Del Mar beach (always have pocket radio & headphones with me, tuned into  the news)...and I heard a caller ask about "eye for an eye" ...and they expressed concern why God would be so harsh in the OT but everything changes in the NT. The radio person (it may have been Pat Madrid) explained that back in the OT days it was like the wild west..and "justice" often went overboard, so if somebody cut off a person's arm, the retribution might be to take the attacker's life, along with his entire family. Thus God's law was intended to create a "maximum" retribution, not a minimum. That is, the "eye for an eye" commandment was to put a LIMIT on how much revenge one could take at the time, but it allowed for LESS. They were not required to take an eye-for-an-eye, but if they did deem "justice" necessary, they were limited to balanced retribution. That put's God in a different light.