Reply to: Ok here's a question for you.......

[TwoWolves]

The Road to Hell is paved with Good Intent...

... and that should be inscribed on the wall of every parliament building in the world!

[TwoWolves]

Evil is a religious concept. No such thing. Motives are never really known and far too much time is wasted trying to guess them. Treatment of anyone under the law should be primarily based on an assessment of the threat they represent. It hardly matters if a murder is evil or just insane, while he remains likely to do it again he must be detained. You can hardly blame an ill-treated dog for attacking people but you still put it down.

Agreed. Evil is a value based concept rooted in religion. Even Hitler thought he was a good man, and so did the people who followed him.

[Dundeegeorge]

Errm but isn't abnormal psychopathology

Interesting idea Xog. So are you saying then that a sociopath, for instance, is not evil just insane? Do you not think it is possible that science is desperate to put a label on something it can't really explain? A sociopath has absolutely no conscience at all and will do anything to satisfy his own needs or desires, including killing people, yet he may be the product of a happy and stable homelife. As far as I know it is not caused by a temporal imbalance or something similar so could it not just be the case that some people are just born bad?

Also IMHO a badly treated dog that attacks someone should not be put down

caused by neglect during very specific periods in a child's life?
I thought that was why there was a rise of non-empathetic people throughout the population, because badly-raised children become parents who raise their own children badly?

[John Galt]

Evil is a religious concept. No such thing. Motives are never really known and far too much time is wasted trying to guess them. Treatment of anyone under the law should be primarily based on an assessment of the threat they represent. It hardly matters if a murder is evil or just insane, while he remains likely to do it again he must be detained. You can hardly blame an ill-treated dog for attacking people but you still put it down.

Interesting idea Xog. So are you saying then that a sociopath, for instance, is not evil just insane? Do you not think it is possible that science is desperate to put a label on something it can't really explain? A sociopath has absolutely no conscience at all and will do anything to satisfy his own needs or desires, including killing people, yet he may be the product of a happy and stable homelife. As far as I know it is not caused by a temporal imbalance or something similar so could it not just be the case that some people are just born bad?

Also IMHO a badly treated dog that attacks someone should not be put down

[xoggoth]

Best be quite about the small boys in the park

[Dundeegeorge]

Nobody works at the home office

Bah! You work for the home office, dont you?

Surely that's one of the problems exercising everybody's spleen, isn't it?

Like the sig by the way, you're not selling badges, are you?
Oh, sudden memory, does anyone else remember the massive proliferation of badges when punk took off? Tee-shirts, jackets, scarves covered in badges, seX PisTOls, Stranglers, God Save the Queen, **** You Grandad etc.
Oh my god, I have become my father. Shoot me now please.
Small boys in the park, jumpers for goalposts, nurse, nurse............
the screens please..................

[xoggoth]

Evil is a religious concept. No such thing. Motives are never really known and far too much time is wasted trying to guess them. Treatment of anyone under the law should be primarily based on an assessment of the threat they represent. It hardly matters if a murder is evil or just insane, while he remains likely to do it again he must be detained. You can hardly blame an ill-treated dog for attacking people but you still put it down.

[mcquiggd]

3rd offence = death.
Not well maybe death eventually, after we've spent years and hundreds of thousands of pounds on appeals, not well death, but really life imprisonment, well I say life, how does five years suit, but a very definite 3rd offence equals death penalty within 10 days of judgement.

Bah! You work for the home office, dont you?

[Dundeegeorge]

Yeah, see but that's the point

Capital punishment costs more money than life imprisonment.

Well it does in the US, because what you tend to get is a period of incarceration that lasts several years, even decades, while all the time there's a costly legal appeals process going on.

And you can bet your bottom dollar that if the UK did have capital punishment, there would be at least as much scope for appeals as in the US, the lawyers would cost even more, and the whole process would be less efficient.

3rd offence = death.
Not well maybe death eventually, after we've spent years and hundreds of thousands of pounds on appeals, not well death, but really life imprisonment, well I say life, how does five years suit, but a very definite 3rd offence equals death penalty within 10 days of judgement.
Conversely we could just take off and nuke the planet from space, it'd be the safest way.

[Emperor Dalek]

How about Exterminating them?

Damn, there was a Dalek here a second ago! Whered it go?

At long last my Daleks are starting to see sense. No messing around until you've robotised all your humans for the day.

[mcquiggd]

Soylent Green.....

.... a renewable energy source....

[thunderlizard]

Capital punishment costs more money than life imprisonment.

Well it does in the US, because what you tend to get is a period of incarceration that lasts several years, even decades, while all the time there's a costly legal appeals process going on.

And you can bet your bottom dollar that if the UK did have capital punishment, there would be at least as much scope for appeals as in the US, the lawyers would cost even more, and the whole process would be less efficient.

[Joe Black]

Why should those victims be forced to pay for the incarceration of the animals who destroyed their lives? (Obviously not the victims of murderers, d'oh!) If someone is going to spend the rest of their life in prison, what is the point of keeping them alive, that actually sounds more spiteful and vengeful than death.

Don't think it has to be a case of victims paying for the incarceration of criminals - I'm presuming you mean through taxes, as even a murderer's death ain't really going to compensate someone for the loss of a son/daughter - when surely someone can come up with a way where inmates (HMG customers ) can be made to carry out some sort of work which pays for their upkeep as well as putting something back into society.

e.g. hiring them out for hazardous waste removal, mine clearing, nuclear power plant decomissioning etc...

[DaveB]

How about Exterminating them?

Damn, there was a Dalek here a second ago! Whered it go?

[DaveB]

You are paraphrasing Judge Dredd!

Nope, Captain Vimes