Reflection to the question of the Death Denalty?

Question

on reading most of the comments in response to my previous question on the death penalty i had mentioned that i am also against prison and many had made a response to that particular comment,
so now a put up a question particularly regarding prison,

ok my reasoning is this through out the history of man we have had the tendency to fear the unknown and try to "ignore" the problem, in my opinion i dont believe in evil (however i do believe in a standard belief of what is a wrongdoing) i believe prison is a way we "ignore" our problem and we should invest some thought in to alternative solutions for example psychology.

in your opinion am i wrong with my reasoning, do you feel that we should not waste our time in such an investment or do u believe that my reasoning is correct and perhaps we should look more into the issue?

Answer 1

There is only one system of justice which will never punish innocent people - the one that punishes nobody. This is not practical, in just about any sense.

Likewise, it can easily be argued that the difference between taking away all the remaining days of a man's life and taking just one day away is only a matter of degree. Imprisonment IS death... just a smaller death.

That doesn't really leave a society with too many options. If you want to be as humane as possible, you can try and structure sentances in such a way that they minimize punishment while still maximizing other social benefits.

I envison something like a hospital - a physically ill person might be inconvenienced by undergoing extra tests, but an ill person might be made well with the proper diagnosis and treatment. Unfortunately, I doubt we have the tools to produce a 'social' hospital of this kind.

So unless you have an alternative, we are probably stuck to some degree with taking away parts of innocent peoples' lives. So it goes.

Answer 2

I think you are both correct and incorrect.

As for substituting psychology for prison as a means of criminal rehabilitation, you have the right idea, and actually the prison system was created as both a way to separate criminals from the general population and as a way to rehabilitate them. It might be a good idea to put more focus in the prison system on the rehabilitation function of prison, so hopefully less criminals would commit further crimes upon their release.

However, as for eliminating jail and replacing it entirely with criminal rehab, I have to disillusion you: not all criminals can be "cured". Many criminals eagerly await the end of their jail sentences for no other reason but so that they can get back out there and commit more crimes. I suggest you watch a documentary about prison conditions. I saw one recently that focused on the dangers of working as a prison guard, because so many inmates are incurably violent and do anything they can to hurt anyone they can. Many of these people could not benefit from any amount or type of psychological help. We need our prison system to protect us from the people who love living as criminals and would never want to live any other way. If you do not believe that such people exist I'm afraid you've been blinded by a dangerous kind of ignorance. These people do exist, and not in small numbers.

Answer 3

My personal thought on this subject is that people should have three chances and then kill them.

Harsh you say, maybe, however my thought is that if someone has commited three offences against society

a) they no the rules and don't care what harm they may inflict against others

b) they don't know the rules and can't be bothered caring

in either case society would be better off without them.

Especially when you take into consideration that people who go to prison can actually learn how to be either better criminals or learn ever further depths of human derpavity simply based on the amount of stored knowledge, ie other prisoners, instead of "reforming".

Now before you start getting snarly about the harshness of my response please note that this would be tempered by the need to have convictions based, instead of beyond reasonable doubt to something akin to beyond all doubt. Some might say this is impossible, however it had previously been thought that man being able to fly was also impossible.

If steps were to be taken to prevent people from reaching the first conviction, or even the need for a trial, it would have to begin, as with all lessons in truth and socialisation, at home when your growing up and learning what behaviour is tolerated by society (and truly who are these people to judge).

And even then there are still those that know what is right and wrong and choose by their own free will to balk this and do as they will regardless of any other person's thoughts, feelings or judgements on the matter.

Answer 4

You are partially correct. While it is important to correct a person's tendency to "wrongdoing" it is also important to protect society from that person until such a time as we can guarantee that he/she will not repeat the crime again. This is were prisons come in. Their function is to isolate the violent from society so that they do not inflict additional harm. In most Western countries prisoners get psychological counseling in prison and so this may help rehabilitate them. Unfortunately, there are some truly sociopathic people that are beyond redemption, it is then the function of prisons to permanently isolate such people from the general population.

PS: I am also against the death penalty.

Answer 5

Your rather utopian view would be nice as a preventive measure. I agree in that respect. We need to start early. Educate children about issues such as self-esteem, violence, bullying. Have counselling. Give them a voice. Catch the budding serial killers before it's too late. But once they've reached adulthood & are too far gone, they are not going to be rehabilitated. It's too late. Prison isn't to ignore them it's to lock them away so they can't hurt or kill more victims. You are the one ignoring reality if you honestly believe you can let killers go free & get them psychologists. Most psychologists are just pill-pushers for drug companies without much to offer of value.

Perhaps I seem cynical but I'm a realist. I'm afraid that I see a very dark side of humanity in my line of work. There are a lot of bad people out there. There is evil out there. People may be acting out of the fears & torments of their own past, they may have been abused etc & now continue the cycle but that doesn't excuse them! We are all accountable for our actions. We know that if we do wrong we are punished. In this world we deal with this world's laws. In the afterlife God will sort us out but we must make the effort to do the right thing here. & we must protect the innocent. Seriously, if someone kills a child, you don't think he should do jail time? You think he should just go free? You are fearing the unknown. You are ignoring the problem.

Feel free to choose me for worst answer (that's not an option is it? Oh well.) I'm sorry but I won't mince words when it comes to protecting the innocent. I've seen evil people get away with too much. Someone has to stand up for the rights of the victims. The guilty have far too many rights. Some of them are playing golf right now after murdering their wives. Because they could afford a fancy lawyer. Is that justice?!

Answer 6

Yes... I agree with your view.... solution lies in reform and prison is one of the least effective methods for any positive reform to be achieved. Psychological treatment is indeed an emancipated way of looking at crime.... it may not succeed always, but then we have no better option.