Originally Posted by
bigGrin
Of course he is emotionally instable, like every muderer is in some way. And I really feel bad about him. But: He has to take responsibility for his actions.
Imagine how crime would get out of control, if someone can get away committing double homicide and be sentenced to just a few years.
All people are equal before the law. No emotional state is an excuse for such a crime, regardless how tragic the history may be. (It affects the degree of penalty, but I don't think he'll ever gets away with less than 20 years.)
Unless he is clearly certifiably insane (hope the dictionary got this word right) and not responsible for his actions, which would make him either mentally ill or mentally disabled.
If that's the case he'll come into special facillities.
From what I think he isn't mentally ill, but that's just an unfunded opinion really. Just a gut feeling.
Either way he'll face a rough future and I feel really bad about him. He should definitely get psycological support and I really hope that he has someone on his side threw all of this.
P.S: I'm surprized that noone mentioned how excellent the operator dealt with this call. I don't think that there is a better way. She probably saved him from committing suicide.
Slippery slope fallacy. Just because one man doesn't get sentenced does not mean it suddenly will spiral out of control. The man who tried to kill Ronald Reagan was placed in a mental institution, rather than prison, and assault and murder didn't spike after his conviction.
lolno. Nobody is equal under the law. It's an ideal, not a fact. With justice upheld by the whim of a group of random idiots, sifted through by both sides to get "invested" (read as unlikely to side with their client) individuals out of the pot so they can get the mindless, opinion-less, sheep who are easy to convince to sit in the jury, who get briefed on the nature of the crime over a period of a couple hours of more emotional appeal than logical appeal, presented by individuals whose goals range from maintaining a prosecution rate to getting money, then sentenced on the whim of a random "qualified" individual appointed by a politically motivated individual who believes they share personal ideals, and who's protected from job loss, short of scandal, for his/her entire career, begs the question of whether ANYBODY can be considered, let alone treated, equal with anybody else under the law.
Emotional state IS a valid reason to excuse a crime. If I hold a gun to your head and tell you to murder somebody, and you do, you can be excused from murder because of violent coercion. Likewise, if somebody is mentally incapable of realizing the severity of the crime they committed, they should not be prosecuted to the same standard as somebody who was cognitive of the nature of the crime.
People are still ignoring the fact that mental rehabilitation of individuals who commit crimes like murder are not brief 2, 5, or even 10 year stints in some posh facility. They are kept in confinement the majority of the time, and they basically have the same rights of any convicted criminal. One of the major differences though is that they are guaranteed to receive psychological and psychiatric care to try to minimize or suppress the mental disorder. Most people who are confined to a mental institution are there for the majority, if not entirety, of their lives. Prison is not intended to be a punitive reaction, but a dissuasive response to prevent crime. It's not a institution of punishing the individual, but seeking to convince an everyday individual from committing a crime. A mentally unstable person will not be dissuaded by such a response, so you need to fix the individual, not punish them for it. Placing them in prison serves no good, and only accomplishes to further disturb the individual.
And in response to the comment of preventing him from committing suicide, studies report that criminals who are sentenced to life imprisonment experience greater suffering through out their life than criminals who are sentenced to death. Death is seen as an escape for a lot of people, especially from adverse conditions, like prison. So explain to me how dissuading him from committing suicide is ultimately beneficial for him if what awaits him is greater suffering through life imprisonment, rather than death?
