Death in Armstrong

[imahoser]

Thank you.

[Tylersboi]

I grew up with Matt - went to school with him. He was a total *bleep* in school - he though he was god's gift of girls, yet he never, ever had a steady girlfriend. In 11th grade he was suspended for doing something dirty to a girl in his class - he just couldn't get that a girl was not into him. He was totally different - he had few friends, and he would do a lot of bizarre stuff in school. Even then, he was totally creepy.

[imahoser]

Charges upgraded to 1st degree murder. Fry f'r!

[the truth]

great news,this should get him a few more years in jail

[CorkSoaker]

Yes, If convicted it would mean life imprisonment without chance of parole for 25 years. However, there is still the faint hope clause that he could apply for after 15 years.

[Marsh69]

They should apply for dangerous offender status for both him and the dad.

[the truth]

They should apply for dangerous offender status for both him and the dad.

hope so,people like that never change no matter how many bs programs they will take in jail,if any

[Marsh69]

... Even better - give guys like Bernardo, and Foerster the choice between life without parole, or the death penalty.

[Runs_With_Scissors]

... Even better - give guys like Bernardo, and Foerster the choice between life without parole, or the death penalty.

I'm sorry but I beg to differ. Guys like Bernardo *shudder* and Foerster *more shudders* already had the choice of "life without parole". In fact, most of us choose "life without parole" by not giving in to the bad moods, crazy urges and occasional foul presence of mind all but the saintly are known to have from time to time. People like Foerster should have to forego their ability to have ANY choice in ANY thing. They should even have to ask which finger they can use to cuss at the rest of us or face losing it permanently. We all EARN our right to life without parole and we give up that right when we deliberately hurt others.

This point of view however, leaves me grappling with the value of lifelong imprisonment (or rather lack of value of same). Psychopaths, sociopaths, anti-social personality disordered, borderline personality disorders all share one common denominator and that is that they don't have a conscience and it isn't something that suddenly appears later in life. I'm certainly no expert in this area in the textbook sense but I have an abundance of unfortunate experience with a couple of these types and I had no choice but to learn everything I could about them if I ever wanted to be free.

Another trait of the conscienceless is the incredible ability they have to morph from "dangerous predator" to "helpless victim" so seamlessly that the most educated professionals often misjudge them. When they've been caught and locked up, their next endeavour is to see how successfully they can manipulate and distort the facts to have the actual victim be forgotten while they vie for the "most pitiful" award.

There is nothing to be gained by locking this kind of evil into a cage and then, when the world has forgotten, releasing him back into society to once again, prey upon some innocent person. There is nothing to be gained by our feeding them and paying their way through life since they don't suddenly become human. There is nothing to be gained by being able to be sociopathic enough to kill them by way of the death penalty either...

Why then, do we not just fly them to Antarctica, drop them off and they can exercise their choice to either survive or don't?? It might just amaze us all as to how fast the crime rate would drop.

[Nebula]

It might just amaze us all as to how fast the crime rate would drop.

Unlikely. There are places with the death penalty that still have murders. Criminals are locked up in cages for decades at a time, yet we still have crime.

[Runs_With_Scissors]

Unlikely. There are places with the death penalty that still have murders. Criminals are locked up in cages for decades at a time, yet we still have crime.

Yes Nebula... Criminals are locked up in cages for decades and we still have crime... I'm not suggesting cages. I'm not even suggesting that they be locked up. I'm also not suggesting that there would be no murders at all.

???

[Nebula]

You suggested sending convicted criminals to Antarctica would cause the crime rate to drop. My point was that I doubt it, considering we already punish convicted criminals in a number of ways and still have crime.

[Runs_With_Scissors]

You suggested sending convicted criminals to Antarctica would cause the crime rate to drop. My point was that I doubt it, considering we already punish convicted criminals in a number of ways and still have crime.

Yes... we do already punish convicted criminals and still have crime. We fine them, we have them do community service work, we take things away from them and we even incarcerate them. Their incarcerations don't hurt those who already have nothing to lose or those without conscience. I've even heard that cons prefer federal time over provincial because federal time has a lot more available to the inmates in terms of educational opportunities, privileges and better accommodations. I don't know... Is this "punishment" to someone who doesn't have a conscience to feel guilty with??

Neither of us have any way of knowing if something radical like a one-way ticket to Antarticta would work to drop the crime rate but we do know that the current methods of dealing with these rotters ISN'T working (as you say yourself). Only the insane keep doing the same things over and over and over and expecting a different result!

[OnTheRoadAgain]

Unlikely. There are places with the death penalty that still have murders. Criminals are locked up in cages for decades at a time, yet we still have crime.

Mental illnesses are still undiagnosed, and untreated too.

[bob vernon]

What is the objective of putting people in prison? Is it to make the public somehow feel better because the bad guy is feeling the pain of revenge? Or should it be to prevent the recurrence of this behaviour when the convicted person is released? Obviously it should be the latter. Just punishing does nothing. People without life skills who just sit in a cell for a few years will come out of jail with the same lack of skills............. and go right back to crime, because it is what they know.
Prisoners who acquire skills while in jail are far more likely to go straight after their release. The recent cuts to the prison system has gutted the rehabilitation programs like the prison farms, technical education programs, and post secondary education. The prison farm actually helped feed the inmates on top of teaching them something. But then that land had value and could be sold to a developer. And that would create another contract to supply the food to the prisons that the farms no longer produce. It's just a raid on the public treasury. And it won't help reduce recidivism one bit. In fact it will increase it.