From: Ross A. Finlayson (raf@tiki-lounge.com)
Date: Thu Feb 01 2001 - 17:33:58 MST
Hi,
Michael Lorrey wrote:
> "Ross A. Finlayson" wrote:
> >
> > Michael Lorrey wrote:
> >
> > > "Ross A. Finlayson" wrote:
> > > >
> > > > I think if it's administered under the Hippocratic oath or similar moral and
> > > > ethical standards, that's different. Administering emergency medicine to save the
> > > > life of another when they would otherwise die against their will is only
> > > > admirable.
> > >
> > > So administering LSD or other drugs to reprogram an incorrigible capital
> > > murderer/serial killer so that they can be rehabilitated would be more
> > > acceptable than executing them? When the alternative is execution,
> > > re-programming is a decent alternative.
> > >
> >
> > WHAT WE'RE TALKING ABOUT HERE IS A HEALTH ISSUE.
>
> Certainly. Execution is a health issue as well, at least as far as the
> condemned person is concerned.
>
It's a health issue for the species. If a killer is in solitary confinement and will never
thus be able to kill again, then even the most sociopathic criminal might not be killed, thus
to be studied to understand future ones.
>
> > > >
> > > > Citizens have rights with regards to anyone trying to "reprogram" them.
> > >
> > > But felons are effectively 'non-citizens' in many respects. Until a
> > > felon is judged fit to return to society, judged to be willing and able
> > > to participate as law abiding citizens, they shouldn't be reintroduced
> > > into that society. Perhaps 'reprogramming' would be acceptable to you if
> > > it were merely a choice a prisoner could make as an alternative to
> > > remaining in prison?
> >
> > You say some felons some are not citizens, do you say they are not human? I say they
> > are humans and many citizens.
>
> They are humans, physiologically. Psychologically they may not act as
> humans, primarily because they have not been treated humanely, but there
> are exceptions: Bundy, Dahmer, etc.
>
Consider Mengele. I thought about him or stories about him and felt an innate urge that his
existence was contradictory to my self-preservation. He killed people that I never met. If I
was a soldier in the war, I would have shot Mengele.
>
> >
> > Reprogramming except in the context of regular education through trade skill and
> > literary learning and punishments for violent behavior, should not be a focus. It
> > sounds too cavalier to apply your meat rules to the brains of these prisoners.
>
> Then why do sexual offenders resist accepting treatment as an
> alternative to continued imprisonment after they serve their terms? They
> say they LIKE feeling the way they do about the things they want to do
> to women and children and that they should for some reason have a right
> to continue to feel that way freely on the outside after they serve
> their terms. They want to commit crimes again, they are not
> rehabilitated, and no 'vocational' learning in prison is going to change
> that in any way. I can understand why they resist it. I don't however,
> agree that people who are psychologically predatory on other humans
> should be let loose at some arbitrarily decided point. They should only
> be released when and if they are found competent to act as free,
> law-abiding, and trustworthy citizens. If it takes treatment to make
> them that way, they can choose to take the treatment or stay in prison.
>
> >
> > If, after valid psychological examination in a psychologically healthy environment, it
> > is determined a mild sedative will help the prisoner cope with his violence issues, then
> > that may be prescribed.
>
> How does a sedative help him 'cope'?
>
It is important to counsel the inmates on a 1-1 personal basis where the inmates are epxected
to meet incremental goals or be remanded to more remedial education.
It's more important to get the inmates back into functional society thus that they contribute
to the tax base of the rest of the citizens, as well as to their own.
>
> >
> > In this thread I permuted the subject to "No Parole for Federales" to suggest to apply
> > the cane to them.
>
> Negative re-enforcement has significant proven deterrent effects. You
> know that kid will never steal a sign in Singapore again, don't you?
That was so funny.
Ross
-- Ross Andrew Finlayson Finlayson Consulting Ross at Tiki-Lounge: http://www.tiki-lounge.com/~raf/ Confucious says, "My name is Confucious."
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