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Do you think, as a society, that it is healthy or unhealthy for us to see criminals in a sympathetic eye? Is this fair to their innocent victims?
I don't think it's necessary or particularly healthy for ordinary citizens to sympathize, in a literal sense, with "cold blooded murderers" when it comes to the crime itself. However, I do think it's important to remember that even murderers are whole people and are more than their heinous crimes. There may, in fact, be aspects of their personality or experience that many citizens can relate to and, more importantly, that can deepen our understanding of what drives them and how they got so flawed in the first place. IMO, that understanding shouldn't serve as an excuse for their behavior - nor should it make us feel sorry for them and make us want to offer them a second chance.
Maybe some people are born beyond help - destined to inflict pain and suffering on those around them. I believe, though, that most people are capable of good and evil - and of finding a balance between the two extremes. What a boon to society it would be if we could understand what creates "monsters" and had the resources to prevent them. Not only would this be "fair to their innocent victims" - it would be an enduring legacy in their honor.
For another take on this topic, I recommend the movie Dead Man Walking. It's based on a true story and stars Susan Sarandon and Sean Penn.
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Originally Posted by LauraC
I really don't think feelings, one way or another, should come into it. We have laws to get justice for the victim. We don't have laws to make better people out of criminals or to right every wrong in their lives. The only issue juries/judges should consider is "did they do it?"
Actually, "the law" requires the jury to consider the entire argument - including extenuating circumstances. Often a criminal case includes multiple charges and the jury is tasked with determining which side made their case for each individual charge.
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Originally Posted by harry chickpea
In short, every situation is unique. Passing judgment sometimes isn't needed. I know, however, had I been on any jury, that I would likely have voted innocent or refused to convict, based on a flawed law.
If you are honest and make this attitude known you won't make it past the jury survey, let alone voir dire. I served on a jury for a criminal case recently and we lost about a third of the day's jury pool on this question.
Any Christian who reads the Bible has no alternative but to have sympathy for criminals. Jesus himself, under the law of the land, was a common criminal.
If you are honest and make this attitude known you won't make it past the jury survey, let alone voir dire. I served on a jury for a criminal case recently and we lost about a third of the day's jury pool on this question.[/quote]
I disagree with you. I have only served on one jury in my 58 years. It was on a child molestation case. I frankly didn't want to serve on the jury because my employer was putting a lot of pressure on me to get out of it. I expressed the pressures of my job in my jury survey. In Voir Dire I basically answered a racial question with "I am not prejudice, I hate all people who are different from me the same." This question was asked because the defendent was Mexican and I was not. I was chosen for the jury and later was one vote to find the defendant guilty of sexually abusing his own children.
Excellent point. Why in the world do we find these people fascinating and worthy of infamy? Are we messed up or just that curious?
i think in the case of the Mafia or the Soprano's, some people are fascinated with the lifestyle. It's so different than the typical person's iife. Many people are attracted to power.
Over the years I've had this conversation with a number of people, it seems that most folk's can't determine the difference between understanding and sympathy. I can understand the underlying reasons for the development of the criminal mind, but, I may not sympathize with the criminal for his actions.
Understanding is in short supply these days, that's one of the causes of a delayed concern over early childhood development with regard to early signs of anti social behavior, we could do better, but that doesn't always set well with the crowd that sees punishment as the real deterrent to crime.
There has been no shortage of written material to support the notion that criminals might just be manufactured by the society they populate, world wide crime stats by nation and region certainly prove the theory of societal influence on criminal development.
People who have already done the crime are certainly going to face punishment, but we have to understand the root of our problems before we can provide a fix. Understanding is not to be confused with allowance.
Not unlike Charlie Manson now an aging old sociopath facing the end of his life in some cell like a dog.
How many suffering souls during this economic crisis would love to be treated like a dog in a cell!
Charlie has lot of admirers to this day, many willing to contribute to his commissary account on a regular basis. This man will never starve to death or ever go without candy bars every day or go through the agony of filling out job applications or worry about putting food on the table for his family. and will always have a roof over his head.
How many today would trade their lot for his? I work in a long-term car facility. At that point in time, what difference does it make!
I have neither sympathy nor respect for anyone who knowingly and willingly breaks the law.
Many people broke the law during Prohibition during the 20's. Many of these people knowingly and willingly broke the law. Bless their hearts! Without those lawbreakers I might not be enjoying a drink at the end of the day.
The one dangerous fault I find with this whole argument is the assumption that everyone who is convicted of commiting a heinous crime is guilty. Given the number of men who are doing time or who have been executed and later found to be innocent, I think our outrage should be directed at the legal system and making sure the person who did the crime does the time.
Please name one person that was executed and later found to be innocent since the re-introduction of capital punishment in the mid 1970's. Bet you can't because it hasn't happened. Don't see how it would even be possible as we give condemned inmates such a lenghty appeals process.
Please name one person that was executed and later found to be innocent since the re-introduction of capital punishment in the mid 1970's. Bet you can't because it hasn't happened. Don't see how it would even be possible as we give condemned inmates such a lenghty appeals process.
What you are asking for is impossible by definition. You require judicial proof in a court of law that the person was innocent, but no court would ever proceed after a defendant's death to gather evidence and determine guilt or innocence. So you can smugly rely on the system that renders it impossible to argue with your personal preference viewpoint.
However, it is well known that a number of executions, if carried out, would have been wrongful, and certainly there were such before the technology existed to determine innocence prior to execution.
The cases of Jesse Tafero, Wayne Felker, and Cameron Willingham have certainly shown that there was "reasonable doubt", which would make their conviction unconstitutional, and therefore invalidate their execution. All that is necessary to acquit a defendant is reasonable doubt, and that unquestionably exists in such cases.
Are you among those who love to kill human beings and watch them die, and will grasp at any straw to justify doing so?
way way too much sympathy with evil in our society. sympathy for the devil goes somewhere.
those who teach you to cooperate with those that wish to destroy you are liars.
Last edited by Huckleberry3911948; 07-10-2009 at 11:04 AM..
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