Sentencing & Alternatives

[pufnstuf]

Grainne...

I am sorry for the experience you went through, but that was no fault of your own. I hope that you have healed well and that the trauma you went through is nothing more than a faint shadow in your mind now. I know that burns are traumatic as can be and I truly hope you've healed.

Concerning prison... one of the most debated arguments concerning prisons is the controversy over whether prisons should be rehabilitative or punitive in nature. Considering the crime against Kyron, how does the prison rehabilitate a person so broken that he or she considers KILLING a small child the solution to whatever problem the killing was supposed to correct? Can that person be rehabilitated to the point that he or she can be trusted to re-enter society and present no threat? I don't think so, and here's why.

Any person who would envision--and carry out--the solution of murdering a small child to be logical, to be the best solution to whatever problem plagued him or her... well, that person is a selfish psychopath with little hope for rehabilitation.

I do hope that the perp, if found guilty by a jury of his/her peers and sentenced to prison, is able to get some form of counseling/therapy. But that counseling should take place behind bars for a lifetime, not on the outside. I'm of the opinion that child-killing psychopaths can't be fixed.

All the above is my opinion.

 

[DreamyEye]

In for a penny, in for a pound: not only am I anti-death penalty, I am also against unnecessarily harsh prison conditions, particularly solitary confinement (which has been shown to have terrible effects on mental health).

I don't believe in sentencing as a deterrent because it seems to me that the vast majority of criminals believe they will not be caught at the time they commit their crimes.

To lose one's freedom is a terrible thing. I'm drawing on my own experience here of being confined to a burn unit for over four months. It was terrible and every tiny bit of the experience was terrible... and I even got pain control meds for some of the worst aspects of the experience (not all, unfortunately).

Some things that seem petty were the things that wore on me the most. For instance, the cooks at that institution had apparently never heard of any sort of lettuce but iceberg nor of any vegetable that shouldn't be steamed into limp, soggy submission. When I was finally released from the hospital, I ate real salad and fresh veggies four times a day for well over a month! Forget breakfast foods, bring on the veggies!

On a more serious note, I believe that people who commit violent crimes are generally people who are sick or broken in some way. These are people who need help, not people whose mental health needs to be worsened.

I believe in sentences of life without parole for some crimes but I believe it should be carried out as comfortably as is consonant with security concerns.

I admire your compassion and hope that you have made a full recovery from your own experience. I understand why being confined for so long under such unpleasant conditions would give you sympathy for others who are locked away and treated gruffly.

If every person came equipped with switches labeled "killer, molester, sadist, sociopath" and the like, and the perpetrator could be sentenced more lightly by agreeing to let someone turn that switch off permanently, I would probably agree with you ... and in fact, I think at one point in our history, something akin to this was tried, with the labotomy being the supposed "off" switch. And from what I've read, few people on any side of the issue were happy with the outcome.

The problem with letting people go after they have done these terrible crimes is that it's known many of them will not be able to stop if set free. So what you'd actually be doing is giving some unknown, comfortably faceless victim a much harsher sentence (of becoming a crime victim) ... so that a terribly cruel person could be treated more comfortable in prison and then set free.

I know that there's a line of thought in the "science" of the penal system that we should try to rehabilitate criminals. With some kinds of criminals, this may be possible--though I'm not familiar with any statistics saying so for sure. But some criminals, like pedophiles and serial killers, cannot be rehabilitated. I don't particularly care about teaching these people, rehabilitating them, or even punishing them. What I care about is making sure that they don't have any further access to innocent people whom they would enjoy victimizing. JMOO!

In this particular case, a lot of things suggest to me that the person who did this--whoever it might be--is a pretty dangerous person and likely pretty much broken beyond repair. This person disappeared a child and has had many months to come forward to explain what happened.--but has not done so. This person cares nothing about the suffering being imposed on KH and DY. This person cares nothing about disrupting the school, frightening the other kids and parents, or depriving the people who love him of Kyron. This person very likely took Kyron from a scenario swarming with innocent kids.

But I see where you are coming from, and to some extent I do share in your compassion--but when it comes to "give the perp a break" or "save the next potential victim," I cast my vote for protecting the potential victim.

I also save my compassion for you, GrainneDhu, for it's plain that your heart is in the right place and you take the suffering of others as seriously as your own. Exactly what we need more of! And very sad that the perpetrators of these kinds of crimes didn't develop it themselves before it all came to this.

 

[GrainneDhu]

Grainne...

I am sorry for the experience you went through, but that was no fault of your own. I hope that you have healed well and that the trauma you went through is nothing more than a faint shadow in your mind now. I know that burns are traumatic as can be and I truly hope you've healed.

Concerning prison... one of the most debated arguments concerning prisons is the controversy over whether prisons should be rehabilitative or punitive in nature. Considering the crime against Kyron, how does the prison rehabilitate a person so broken that he or she considers KILLING a small child the solution to whatever problem the killing was supposed to correct? Can that person be rehabilitated to the point that he or she can be trusted to re-enter society and present no threat? I don't think so, and here's why.

Any person who would envision--and carry out--the solution of murdering a small child to be logical, to be the best solution to whatever problem plagued him or her... well, that person is a selfish psychopath with little hope for rehabilitation.

I do hope that the perp, if found guilty by a jury of his/her peers and sentenced to prison, is able to get some form of counseling/therapy. But that counseling should take place behind bars for a lifetime, not on the outside. I'm of the opinion that child-killing psychopaths can't be fixed.

All the above is my opinion.

I did not make myself clear, apparently.

I have no problem with the option of life without parole. I'm not arguing that, if whatever crime took place was premeditated, whoever was responsible for Kyron's disappearance should ever walk the streets again.

I'm just saying that conditions within prisons should be as comfortable as possible as consistent with security concerns.

Right now, I don't know of any way to rehabilitate someone who commits the premeditated murder of a small child. But unless we continue to try to treat these people, we will never find a way to treat them.

I don't see anything inconsistent about advocating for both rehabilitation and confinement.

 

[germaine]

I'm just saying that conditions within prisons should be as comfortable as possible as consistent with security concerns.

Right now, I don't know of any way to rehabilitate someone who commits the premeditated murder of a small child. But unless we continue to try to treat these people, we will never find a way to treat them.

wow...I don't want to make child killers "as comfortable as possible" :::hurl::: If someone kills my child, I'd like to see them dead...quickly, painfully and at no cost to the taxpayers.