Re: "punishment"

Michael Lorrey (retroman@tpk.net)
Sat, 28 Jun 1997 16:25:36 -0400


Anton Sherwood wrote:
>
> quoth Mike Lorrey---
> : I would expect that criminals would have the choice themselves of either
> : being executed if they refused remorse, or imprisonment from life on
> : downward with remorse and a commitment to restitution. A truly guilty
> : criminal without remorse is merely a mad dog to be put down.
>
> Would you kill someone for saying, "My thoughts are the only
> privacy I have left; they are not for you" ?
>
> Would you kill a convict for continuing to insist he's innocent?

If it is known unequivocably that he did it (photographs, multiple
witnesses, multiple DNA traces (in more than just flaked skin
quantities)), then not only is he a mad dog, but he is a mad dog without
integrity. With the level of fraud, dishonesty, rudeness, and
callousness in this society today, it would take making killing someone
for cutting in line homicide in the public interest a justified defense
before people start to treat each other with respect for space, privacy,
etc. Its all to do with the concept of mercy. If we now you did it, and
admit to it, accept what ever punishment is deemed necessary, then you
are worthy of redemption much more than the guy who continues to deny it
in the face of overwhelming evidence.
>
> (see also the parole hearing in _The Shawshank Redemption_)
>

I've seen it. As I recall, the guy who escaped was innocent. If you
remember his case, his tire tracks were found outside the house of the
scene of the crime, he had no alibi, and was drinking. There was no
enuequivocal evidence, only loose circumstantial evidence.

-- 
TANSTAAFL!!!
			Michael Lorrey
------------------------------------------------------------
mailto:retroman@tpk.net		Inventor of the Lorrey Drive
Agent Lorrey@ThePentagon.com
Silo_1013@ThePentagon.com	http://www.tpk.net/~retroman/

Mikey's Animatronic Factory My Own Nuclear Espionage Agency (MONEA) MIKEYMAS(tm): The New Internet Holiday Transhumans of New Hampshire (>HNH) ------------------------------------------------------------ #!/usr/local/bin/perl-0777---export-a-crypto-system-sig-RC4-3-lines-PERL @k=unpack('C*',pack('H*',shift));for(@t=@s=0..255){$y=($k[$_%@k]+$s[$x=$_ ]+$y)%256;&S}$x=$y=0;for(unpack('C*',<>)){$x++;$y=($s[$x%=256]+$y)%256; &S;print pack(C,$_^=$s[($s[$x]+$s[$y])%256])}sub S{@s[$x,$y]=@s[$y,$x]}