Of course they cannot reoffend if they are dead. However, if people escape from prisons, what is the issue?
The *issue* is that by allowing them to live, they are still a risk to others. Inside OR outside of prison. Prison is for reform. I would much rather keep an individual who committed theft, fraud or even assault alive because THEY can actually be reformed.
Prison security or the fact that we aren't killing the prisoners?
Prison security wouldn't be an issue if we didn't allow the most threatening of criminals to continue breathing ... and eating ... and entertaining themselves.
You act as though your solution is the only one
It is ...
and that the lives of the offenders are not worth anything,
They aren't ...
which you achieve through de-humanizing them as in likening them to tumors.
They de-humanized themselves by virtue of their actions. I am just offering a valid comparison as to the threat they continue to be while alive.
No, we might not be successful in rehabilitating certain prisoners, but we can secure them.
How much more security from them is necessary if they are dead?
Let me ask you this, Selaphiel: Would you feel comfortable if you knew that someone such as Larry Singleton was living next door to you and your family?
It is for both. But the most important one is the forgiveness of the victims and their relatives.
Forgiveness is a very personal thing. IF it helps the person in question, great. However, I do not expect or demand something from someone else that I would might not/would not be able to do myself.
Which we should be able to achieve with high security prisons. And if we fail, it is the security that is the issue.
Sigh. No ... it's not the prison. It's not the security. It's the
C R I M I N A L. Do you really believe that if you put them in a cell and they find a way to chisel out a weapon from inside their cell that they won't use it because it's against the rules?
Should we kill the potentially dangerous people in mental asylums as well
That depends on the person and IF they have actually harmed or murdered someone. People such as Andrea Yates and Susan Smith should have received the death penalty.
or should our goal be to cure and rehabilitate them?
Only if they *can* be rehabilitated ...
If they can't, then I would say the same thing to someone wishing to rehabilitate Cujo or Old Yeller. "They are mad. A danger. They won't quit frothing at the mouth until their heart stops beating. Pet them on the nose if you wish, but don't expect me not to shoot them should they come rushing at me, snapping and snarling".
It is not just the death penalty that needs reform in the US. Your entire penal system needs reform, since it is built around the concept of punishment rather than that of rehabilitation. As a result, the prisons are inhumane and I wouldn't say that it is unlikely that that is a contributing factor to escape attempts as well.
We are discussing criminals who are put to death for the *inhumane* actions towards others. Just how humane should we treat these infested putrid walking entities of malice?
