Crime

[faroutinmt]

Punishment for crimes is not swift and severe enough these days. If child molesters were castrated, I think we would see some change. It is a known statistical fact that the countries which have the most severe punishments for crimes, experience less crime.

When I was in grade school, spanking was still allowed. When you saw a kid come back from a spanking you didn't see an attitude of disrespect; you saw an attitude of humility. Kids these days don't respect authority and neither do grown ups. The fear of punishment not only encourages the denying of desire to commit crime but also encourages the view that crime is a serious and awful thing.

I remember my grandmother taking a switch to me after she found out I had lied to her ( I was around 6 or 7). After she applied the rod of discipline to the seat of knowledge, she told me she loved me. I believed her. I also decided it was not good to lie to granny.

[ChelsyC]

Spankings never worked on me. They made me angry and more likely to do something again. Groundings were much more affective on me when I was a kid.

But I think the prison system is more like a vacation than punishment. I don't know how to change it, but it needs to be changed.

I agree totally on castration of child molesters. Anyone who hurts a child, animal, or senior shouldn't even have any human rights anymore. Instant void.

Same goes for drug dealers who sell their goods to kids. Though I believe drug laws should be less severe in some states (like my native Michigan), dealers who target kids are scum.

[KrokadilyanGuy3]

Originally Posted by faroutinmt

In my opinion, when you take in enough alcohol to impair your reason, judgment and motor skills, you put other people at serious risk. When you get behind the wheel in such a state, you take other's lives into your own hands. The crash may have been an accident, but the choice to drink to such an extent so as to diminish his ability to drive safely was a decision made by a morally responsible person who should be held accountable for his actions.
The problem with society and most of the psychobabble of today is that people are no longer held responsible for the choices they make.

Problem with this is, he was impaired by drinking and obviously not coherantly thinking. He hurt nobody other than the people who decided to ride with him. They weren't forced but opted to ride with the driver. Can't blame one thing for drinking and another for improper thinking.

Now, not only does he have to live with the fact he killed two of his friends he now ruined his life.

Kinda sucks, makes ya wonder why people choose to go out and drink without having a DD..

[Hairless]

Originally Posted by KrokadilyanGuy3

I was recently given the news about an incident that happened about a year ago with a few buddies.
To keep the story short:
Driver, and 3 passengers were drunk coming back from a party. All were best of friends. The driver lost control and hit a tree. Killed his cousin and a girl that were in the truck. The driver and friend were both Ok. Both were in ICU for quite some time however.
The news I was given was the driver is now being charged with two counts of voluntary manslaughter, Driver under the influence and something else which escapes me. He was arrested and given the charges, from school..
Now, I have mixed emotions about this and I know drinking and driving shouldn't be tolerated but, I some how don't feel all of the charges are Just. maybe it's just me, but what do you guys think?
Figured I'd post this on here for a real life incident.

I have had the unfortunate luck to be in the same situation as you twice. Both times four people where in the cars.....6 died. Both drivers lived, one is paralized from the neck down.
I think the drivers should have every possible charge brought against them to the fullest extent of the law.
It's very simple for me, if you make the choice to get behind the wheel while under the influence....you should pay the fullest penalty for what results from that choice.
I wish the first penalty for DUI was a manditory 30 days in jail with no work release. After serving the time, the offender should pay every cent back to the state for the entire cost of everything....court, stay in jail, etc.
No one should have to share the road with impaired drivers.

[KyleZ]

When it comes down to alcohol-related situations, as stated in the above posts...it's a very sticky situation. I believe alcohol (at least in copious amounts) is one of the most dangerous drugs out there. I've seen it's effects on so many lives. People do things they would NEVER normally do if they hadn't consumed alcohol. Sometimes these things include making terrible decisions that they absolutely could not be convinced otherwise if they hadn't been drinking. I've seen people who DID have a DD literally have to be physically restrained when drunk in order not to drive their cars. When sober, the same person is a law-abiding, good-natured, well-respected contributor to society, and truly would never intend to behave in such a way, even when drinking. For many, the easy solution to this problem is...don't get drunk. But also for many, this is much easier said than done.

What if one of your loved ones harmed someone in a situation like this? What if they had absolutely no recollection of their actions or decision-making when they were inebriated? Would it be so easy to lock them up and throw away the key for one fateful and tragic incident...that they have no memory of? I've seen someone go through this, and it was painful for all involved. Just food for thought.

Of course when it comes down to crimes with obvious malicious intent...of which there are plenty...The punishment should fit the crime...There are prisons in some parts of the world that don't hand out the death penalty, but the conditions within make the murderers wish for death every day...3x3 cells, rice and dirty water....until death...very cheap also. I read a study somewhere about the average amount of taxpayer money spent on each death-row inmate until their execution...it was astronomical, believe it or not.

[ChelsyC]

It tried looking up the cost to incarcerate one inmate for a year, but it's 3:30am and my Google skillz are failing me.

Here we go-

It cost an average of $23,876 to imprison someone in 2005, the most recent year for which figures were available. But state spending varies widely, from $45,000 a year in Rhode Island to $13,000 in Louisiana.

From this article-
The high cost of incarceration - The Denver Post

I think it's absolutely insane to spend that much. If the person is not a danger to other people, make them do community service. If they are, lock them away from others and make them work off that $45k a year!

[faroutinmt]

Originally Posted by KrokadilyanGuy3

Problem with this is, he was impaired by drinking and obviously not coherantly thinking. He hurt nobody other than the people who decided to ride with him. They weren't forced but opted to ride with the driver. Can't blame one thing for drinking and another for improper thinking.
Now, not only does he have to live with the fact he killed two of his friends he now ruined his life.
Kinda sucks, makes ya wonder why people choose to go out and drink without having a DD..

The driver carries more accountability because he has more control of the situation. He could have and should have chosen not to let them get in the car. Should everyone who does wrong while drunk be absolved from their responsibility? Everyone who does wrong should do so while drunk so they can get off the hook.

How many times prior to this incident did he see, hear or read a warning about driving drunk or the warning against irresponsible drinking? How many times had he heard a report about a drunk driver killing someone? How many warnings prior to this time did he hear?

I'm not saying that he be rejected or hated by anyone; only that he should have to pay a consequence.
I'm sure many would disagree, but taking away your sanity and reason and sound mind through excessive drinking ( be it 2 or 6 drinks) is downright wrong. To say that life is more enjoyable without a sound mind is insanity. Many folks spend their lives tormented because they don't have a sound mind by choice and we pity them. Why is it then that we think it's a jolly good time to deliberately take away our own sound minds and put everyone around us at risk?

I speak from having done this many times in the past myself and I was stupid to do it. I deserved much more punishment than I got.

[ThomasH.]

Originally Posted by luker3232

If you read all my posts I THINK I said they should have to work for there keep.

The problem with that idea is that murderers and other serious menaces wouldn't be allowed to do work in the community. They would be mowing the prisoner walk yard, [Remember its still my tax dollars that pays for the property they get paid to mow.] making food for themselves [Remember its still my tax dollars for the food they got paid to make.] and doing their own and other inmate laundry.[Remember its still my tax dollars that paid for the washing machine and laundry.] They make a direct small profit too, they don't have to pay for stuff that normal people do. Rarely would they be allowed to do anything helpful for the community as far as murderers go. So basicly they get paid around $0.80 an hour to take care of themselves. I don't get paid to take care of myself, why should the menaces? I am still losing my tax dollars and not benifiting from them. Remember they can even chose not to work. They're in for life so what would be the point of working? So fry them!
TBH