Deathrow Convicts in the Army, Making Use Out of the Useless?

Question

I have an idea to make use of the deathrow convicts. Of course by choice not by force.
All deathrow convicts are given the choice to join a certain division of the army. They are trained properly and treated like other people in the military, they are just kept seperated from the others and can't be let free. They fly them over to the place of war and allow them to do the most dangerous missions. If they come back alive they are able to get off of death row but still have to stay in jail.
Pros: Using people who are going to die anyways. Giving people who messed up a chance to do something good with there lives before they die. Plus they already have the killing mentality.
Cons: Well they're cons so there is a huge list of them.

My Question: Would this be a good idea to implement such a division of the Armed Forces to fight the hard parts of the war.

Some people are saying its a bad idea to force them because if they are forced to do this I know the results would be bad. It would be voluntary and there would be the same training involved. Also I didn't know there was already a movie on this called "The Dirty Dozen".
I know I might be adding stuff to cover myself but these convicts would have to be mentally stable.

As I read the responses to my question I'm starting realize how bad of an idea it would be. I just thought it could be a good way to put them to some use.

*If your for or against the war I don't care ALWAYS SUPPORT THOSE WHO ARE SERVING*

Answer 1

you've got great imagination there for a book. but in reality, it will create greater chaos.

Answer 2

This idea is wrong on several fundamental levels.

(1) Use of "penal units" is wrong. That's a human rights violation if there ever was one. Demanding they fight but restricting freedom of movement and sentencing them back to incarceration for loyal service is flat out wrong.

(2) Having to watch prisoners such as these in today's Army is a complete and total waste of resources, not to mention an undue risk to others. Would you trust a convicted murderer-rapist around female Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, Marines? Would you trust them to not desert? Why should anyone have to guard these people? Why should anyone have to risk one of them kidnapping, raping, murdering local nationals when we have enough bad apples as it is?

(3) Why should I trust my back to someone who may or may not decide to frag me at the earliest opportunity? Why should I assign my boys to keep extra watch on one of these convicts and lose rest and sleep? What makes you think a death row convict, someone who has issues with social mores and authority to begin with, could even begin to function in a military organization that stresses obedience to regulations and adherence to lawful orders?

Certainly there are many convicts. And certainly, some will say the French Foreign Legion and Spanish Foreign Legion are role models. Even THOSE organizations don't just take anyone off the street. Integrating any serious criminal (and I mean serious, as in the death row kind, not the sort of minor felony crap that gets recruited every day) requires a level of punishment and indoctrination that today's America simply cannot stomach or embrace.

Answer 3

Sounds like a good idea at first. However, the really dangerous missions would logically be the missions requiring the greatest discipline to complete. People serving life sentences in military prisons have already shown that they rather lack discipline. If one were unable to follow the UCMJ, and such a screw-up that you required that sort of punishment, there would be no reason to believe such an individual would succeed in a mission requiring great discipline. Nope, not as good an idea as it sounds at first. Sorry, try again.

Answer 4

This is a terrible idea. You want to put restricted military hardware into the hands of convicted killers. Once they are behind enemy lines, what's to stop these 'forced soldiers' from immediatly surrendering and seeking asylum in this other country? You're not likely to feel much patriotism for a country that wants to put you to death.

You have no idea the mentality necessary to do this kind of work. Killing your wife for the insurance money & getting caught has nothing to do with shooting a military officer 1,000 yards out.

Answer 5

Your heart is in the right place, but this would be a catastrphic idea. You a proposing to take a group of people who have shown themselves to be violent and antisocial with little respect for authority; arm them, train them to kill more effectively and placing them in a position of trust. While I agree with you on the point that it would be good not to waste good men on dangerous mission, the fact is that the dangerous missions are usually the important ones. You need people you can trust and rely on to complete these mission. With the only options given to them are to die or stay in jail, most would likely flee at the first opportunity with the guns they were given.

Answer 6

The Army researched this extensively in WWII. Turns out criminals have no loyalty, are cowards only interested in saving their own butts when introduced to combat situations. The tough guy with a razor or gun in an alley assaulting some old lady taking out the garbage does not deserve the honor wearing the US military uniform. Don't want them to be a waste? Send them to the glue factory after execution. Glue would be worth more than them.

Answer 7

I suggest you look into what it takes to become part of any "special ops" division of the armed forces. They have to go thorugh quite an extensive pschological exam before they can even be considered for trying out for the truly strenuous physical part.

not a bad idea, just one that would be hard to implement, especially with all the tookie loving apologists in this country.

Answer 8

Giving ammunition to killers and rapists....Not such a good idea in my book. I do agree with making good use out of them however. Just not arming them with weapons.

Answer 9

The Dirty Dozen was a movie.

There is no way this could or would ever happen. Their mission would fail, and possibly cost more lives..............

Answer 10

why would you want to give a weapon to a person who already hates this country if you had ever talked to a death row inmate you would know most hate this government and would love a chance to topple it

Answer 11

I don't think giving convicted murderers guns would be a good idea.