Should A Killer Be Put To Death If He's Mentally Ill? (page 3)

Deputy Dog

minimus

Of course, there are those that have IQs of 20 and are retarded. Does such a person truly understand anything??

If the intent was to kill, they understand!

golf2

Ahhhhhhhhhh, if,I were the assuming judge which I'm not, I'll leave it to the judge upstairs.

AlmostAtheist

I oppose killing anyone as a punishment, so it's hard to separate the death-penalty question itself from a specific example of it.

There is no cookie-cutter human. We're all different from one another, and even differing from what we consider to be ourselves at various times. Hence we say, "I just don't know why I did that!" So I'm not against locking people away from general society if they are a danger to it, regardless of WHY they are a danger to it. If a person is mentally ill, it's a terrible shame and I feel for them. But if their illness causes them to be a threat to society, society is obliged to deal with it. If they can't treat the unfortunate person, they have few options but to lock him away. And doubly-sad is the fact that we understand it poorly enough that we often don't realize a person is a threat until they've already done something criminal.

I guess I'm saying I'm not opposed to applying criminal justice to what is clearly a medical problem for the protection of society. But I AM opposed to the death penalty, all the more so for a person that we may at some point be able to treat successfully.

Dave

Gregor

Especially if he/she is mentally ill. Until the "experts" can show they have figured out how to fix them (and that includes those who are sexual predators) then society should eliminate them in a humane manner. By the way, prison is not humane.

Those who bring up moral equivalency in their argument against capital punishment are, imho, dunderheads.

Yizuman

The problem is that when an individual shows the capability to kill, ill or not, that person is considered to be dangerous to ALL life around the individual. We can't make predictions whether or not that individual will kill again. It's too dangerous to make any assumptions.

Nonetheless, if they want to put a mentally ill person in prison rather than death, they better put that person in a supermax prison environment. Keeping that person alive is a HUGE risk to everyone involved that is near that person. You can't take a no risk approach to that person that has the capability to kill.

For the non-mentally ill individuals, they're more dangerous because if they think about killing, chances are they will.

For me personally, putting a killer to death pretty much dissolves all risks of harm against a next possible victim in the future.

Yiz

keyser soze

Does that include all the deaths that George W. is responsible for? I suppose you could consider him mentally-challenged. In all seriousness, I don't believe in capital punishment of any kind, so I would have to say no.

jaguarbass

My 2 cents, I say yes.

That way he wont murder again and he wont spread his deffective seed.

I will also say this, I work in a jail and many of the mentally ill criminals are fakeing it. They are manipulating playing the system.

The great number of criminals in jail are manipulating playing the system.

99% will tell you it wasnt me, I'm innocent.

At the same time, I know the police arrest a lot of the wrong people and I know they always trump up the charges.

If you could be certain who the killer was, Hinkley killing John Lennon. Sirhan Sirhan killing Robert Kennedy, they should fry.

If there is a reasonable doubt they should get life in prison.

Mental status should not be considered in my opinion.

Your always going to be able to find a sympathetic Psychiatrist. They work for a fee. And facts and evidence are to be interpreted as to how one wants to plead their case.

Gregor

Does that include all the deaths that George W. is responsible for? I suppose you could consider him mentally-challenged. In all seriousness, I don't believe in capital punishment of any kind, so I would have to say no.

Pretty bald attempt to hijack a thread Keyser. Don't you know it is considered really bad form?

There is a politics category here. Suggestion, If what you have to say is so brilliant why don't you start a thread?

knock knock

jaguar: if there is reasonable doubt that they did commit a murder they should get life in prison??

As to the original question - should a killer be put to death if he's mentally ill? I just have to wonder, what have you done now minimus old boy?

moshe

Back in the old days they just exiled them from the clan- it's probably the same as a death sentence.

Should A Killer Be Put To Death If He's Mentally Ill?

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