Philosophy Now Forum

http://webspace.ship.edu/cgboer/freewill.html

'nuff said.

Ned wrote:If you think that "one who commits heinous crimes" has a healthy mind, then you have a very strange definition of 'healthy' -- as I said in a previous post before.

That's why courts can and do rule on the mental fitness of a person to stand trial.

Ginkgo wrote:

Ned wrote:If you think that "one who commits heinous crimes" has a healthy mind, then you have a very strange definition of 'healthy' -- as I said in a previous post before.

That's why courts can and do rule on the mental fitness of a person to stand trial.

How about using your own intelligence to think it through and not delegate it to people you never knew and have no reason to trust?

Ned wrote:

Ginkgo wrote:

Ned wrote:If you think that "one who commits heinous crimes" has a healthy mind, then you have a very strange definition of 'healthy' -- as I said in a previous post before.

That's why courts can and do rule on the mental fitness of a person to stand trial.

How about using your own intelligence to think it through and not delegate it to people you never knew and have no reason to trust?

Because I am not a qualified psychologist. There are many highly qualified people in large number of fields who are in positions of trust. Most would be highly qualified and ethical.

OK, I guess...trust is an admirable quality.

I hope you never get disappointed in the justice system.

What should the penalty be for
2 kills?
1 killing and 1 case of torture (2 separate human beings)?
1 case of torture and 1 kill (same person)?
1 case of torture of baby (likely disabled for life)?
3 kills or more?
2 cases of torture or more (possibly disabling people for life)?
The Death Sentence!? No?

More unclear cases:
1 killing
1 case of torture
Maybe not the death sentence. Life imprisonment? 25 years in prison?

There are also the professional sides and related responsibility. One can envision the death sentence for following professions:
Physicians (especially for torture)
Police officers
Lawyers/judges
Nurses
Etc.

Then there's the insanity judgment:
"I must kill and torture", headless deeds - Insanity verdict? Life "care"/Incarceration
Torture and killings as interest, "how do they twist and scream?" - The death sentence? Sane verdict.

Let's keep as premise that judgment on sanity/insanity is effective and that this puts aside the cases of insanity because insanity is condition of pardoning, the usual reasoning...

Please remember that the relatives of victims are much burdened by not having the possibility to visit the victim of a killing, unlike the relatives of the offender, who seldom needs to pay any particular amount of money for the deed. The relatives can also be burdened by victim becoming disabled (for life).

As matter of ethics, the Golden Rule can go either way depending on who you are as person.

Now, what say you?

Two links I like to add:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Use_of_ca ... by_country
http://www.news.com.au/national/breakin ... 7326114635