Thread: Shall the criminally insane be put down like a dog with rabies?

Let me clarify myself. I am speaking of men like Hitler, Manson, That guy who beheaded and cannibalized his victim in Canada, these are the types I am referring to.

depends. criminally insane on it's own? no. criminally insane and convicted of a violent felony? hell yes.

i don't care how screwed up someone is, as long as they play by the rules i've got nothing against 'em. if they cross that line, however, i don't care in the slightest what's going on in their head, they've broken the law and they've got to be punished.

Was it just to execute Theodore Bundy ? Would it have been better to feed, clothe and house him for the rest of his natural life ? Perhaps like Caryl Chessman he would have become an artist and a writer. He would have enjoyed breathing the air and feeling the sun on his skin and the chill of winter's bite.

How about the two DC snipers ? Or, if you've heard of him, the serial killer nicknamed BKT for bind, torture, kill. Regrettably they said that once caught and convicted his merciless killings took place so long ago that the death penalty was not applicable. Bummer.

The examples above weren't particularly concerned with the suffering of the people they put to death. Personally I wouldn't be concerned with whether the method of execution caused them the same suffering their victims endured.

I was reading a column written by Pat Buchanan some years ago regarding the reaction of the public to the treatment of prisoners captured in Afghanistan. This was about the time of the capture of John Walker Lynde and before the revelations of Abu Grave and mistreatment of prisoners at Guantanamo. Buchanan recalled the execution of the nazi saboteurs captured in the USA during WWII. He said that Americans in those days "were made of sterner stuff". I can't argue with that.

Originally Posted by 2Sharp

Lethal injection is painless. I don't know what is wrong with the painful way of execution anyway. I want them to have as much pain as they inflicted on their victims. The problem is that it takes too long from sentencing to execution. One appeal within two weeks then . Drunk is no excuse. Drugs is no excuse. Insane is no excuse. Serve the penalty either in prison or institution for criminally insane. If death is sentenced so be it. Let it be done.

bj

Makes you proud doesn't it And here was me thinking society had evolved past such primitive thoughts!

Steven

Originally Posted by nerobot

Makes you proud doesn't it And here was me thinking society had evolved past such privative thoughts!

Steven

i'll assume you mean primative. what's bad about primative? if such executions benefit society as a whole, are they not beneficial, and even part of the driving force BEHIND societal evolution?

Originally Posted by jockeys

i'll assume you mean primative. what's bad about primative? if such executions benefit society as a whole, are they not beneficial, and even part of the driving force BEHIND societal evolution?

Yes, I did, cheers.

I fail to see how such executions would benefit society. I'm interested to know what benefit you think it would give.

Why stop at executing these people? Why not destroy someones car if they happen to hit yours on the road? Why not execute someone who defends there home with a gun?

Steven

Originally Posted by nerobot

Yes, I did, cheers.

I fail to see how such executions would benefit society. I'm interested to know what benefit you think it would give.

Why stop at executing these people? Why not destroy someones car if they happen to hit yours on the road? Why not execute someone who defends there home with a gun?

Steven

opinions are mixed. personally, I think they are beneficial becuase they provide a post-facto example (and thus deterrent) of what happens when the social contract is broken. they let people believe in justice. with the revolving doors some prisons seems to have, it sends a mixed message to would-be criminals.

1. if someone hits me with a car on the road, it is not necessarily a criminal matter, but rather a civil one. also, such things are usually accidental. if intent can be proved, criminal charges can and have been brought against the driver. off the top of my head, i do not know if anyone has been executed in my state for aggravated assault that used a car. it wouldn't surprise me, but i don't have that information.
2. defending your home with a gun is LEGAL where i live. why would you execute someone for not breaking the law?
3. there are some crimes that can invoke the death penalty, and some that can't. that list is law, made by elected lawmakers, so it's a more or less democratically decided list, made state by state. my state has a pretty generous list of stuff you can get executed for, and people that don't like it can move to other states.

It would be hard for me to justify executing the truly criminally insane - that means they did not have the ability to tell right from wrong. Bundy, BTK, were messed up in the head, but they knew what they were doing was wrong. If someone is hallucinating, and acts in "self-defense" and kills an innocent, can you really blame them? I do think they should be locked up for good though. I don't trust the system to manage them on the outside.

Jordan

Whilst some people are clearly insane, trying to define what insanity is would be a bit of a challenge, especially if you're doing it with a view to sending someone to their death.

You see, if I do something wrong and say Ted Bundy's voice in my head told me to do it, you'd probably say I was insane.

But if I said the voice of God (in my head) told me to do it, I might be held up as a prophet in some places.

So which one is truly nuts?

To be fair. I did not read every post here. I voted no because the question was asked in two different ways.

Should the criminals be put down like a dog, Lethal Injection. I say no.

Should the criminals be shot dead in the street and left as a reminder to others, published on TV and the internet. A resounding Hell Yes.

I realize that may offend people, but I will not apologize for my hard line stance. If you murder, rape, or commit crimes against children there should be a 17 panel jury and one trial. No appeal unless a JUDGE rules that there was a mistake of law. If 13 or more people on the jury believe you are guilty, you are. No jury deadlock.

At the point of a guilty verdict the judge will have 30 days to make the final decision as to mistake of law only and then the person will be taken to a public forum and shot. The family of the offender sent the bill for the incarceration and bullet. Hardcore yes. Will it defer others from going down the same path. Not immediately, but give it six months of this and I guarentee that crime will drop. Will we get a few wrong, sure, but with the technology that we have and it is getting better, those numbers will go down.

No offense this is my feeling on the subject.