Should People Who Have Mental Illness/Retardation Be Tried As An Adult?

Arthur Brain

Well-known member
A question more aimed at those who think a swift and painful execution should happen for plenty but open to others as well. Is it in any way moral to try and convict a person who wasn't/isn't in control of their faculties for crimes? If so, then should children be convicted as adults as well?
 

eider

Well-known member
A question more aimed at those who think a swift and painful execution should happen for plenty but open to others as well. Is it in any way moral to try and convict a person who wasn't/isn't in control of their faculties for crimes? If so, then should children be convicted as adults as well?

Well put!

Sometimes we do convict mentally ill folks for crimes, but only if it can be shown that despite their disabilities they must have had guilty mind. But these same people are usually then held in a controlled mental hospital. Ronald Cray was held for life in a mental health wing of a secure facility, for instance. The boys who killed Jamie Bulger were convicted but then held and treated for rehabilitation if possible. etc etc

You asked about 'moral acts' in your OP, and it has to be said that Public Painful executions can only be an example of an unhinged culture, and executions like that for adultery, LGBT actions, certain insults to parents etc....... is beyond unhinged.
 

ok doser

lifeguard at the cement pond
at what age should a child know that it is wrong to kill?

if a mentally retarded person tries to hide the fact that they've murdered, isn't that an indication that they know it is wrong?
 

Arthur Brain

Well-known member
Well put!

Sometimes we do convict mentally ill folks for crimes, but only if it can be shown that despite their disabilities they must have had guilty mind. But these same people are usually then held in a controlled mental hospital. Ronald Cray was held for life in a mental health wing of a secure facility, for instance. The boys who killed Jamie Bulger were convicted but then held and treated for rehabilitation if possible. etc etc

You asked about 'moral acts' in your OP, and it has to be said that Public Painful executions can only be an example of an unhinged culture, and executions like that for adultery, LGBT actions, certain insults to parents etc....... is beyond unhinged.

Well, where it comes to people who advocate a state that painfully executes people for being homosexual then an argument could be made that they're not exactly in full control of their faculties...

:eek:
 

Rusha

LIFETIME MEMBER
LIFETIME MEMBER
Hall of Fame
A question more aimed at those who think a swift and painful execution should happen for plenty but open to others as well. Is it in any way moral to try and convict a person who wasn't/isn't in control of their faculties for crimes? If so, then should children be convicted as adults as well?

Children. No. They are not given the same rights as adults (due to lack of maturity) so punishing them AS adults does not make sense. For someone who is mentally ill ... for me, it depends on the person. Are they mentally insane to such an extent that they would continue to be a risk to all around them? Is there another option that would not put anyone else in harm's way if the person keeps on breathing?
 

Arthur Brain

Well-known member
Children. No. They are not given the same rights as adults (due to lack of maturity) so punishing them AS adults does not make sense. For someone who is mentally ill ... for me, it depends on the person. Are they mentally insane to such an extent that they would continue to be a risk to all around them? Is there another option that would not put anyone else in harm's way if the person keeps on breathing?

Totally agreed on the first part and regarding the second, a secure psychiatric ward would be better than killing someone.
 

ok doser

lifeguard at the cement pond
if they understand the consequences of their actions, they deserve execution


remember our little discussion on "earned" and "deserve"?
 

ok doser

lifeguard at the cement pond
maybe that's too much for one post

let me simplify it



At what age should a child know that it is wrong to kill?


1. 18, because that's when they become an adult.
2. Puberty, because that's when they become an adult
3. (your answer here)




if you choose 3, give a brief explanation for your answer
 

Stripe

Teenage Adaptive Ninja Turtle
LIFETIME MEMBER
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Should people who have mental illness/retardation be tried as an adult?
The so-called criminal justice systems — really, they are "just a system"s — have enough trouble convicting murderers and executing them swiftly and painfully — y'know, justice — let alone them being tasked with figuring out how retarded people are.

Lawyers do enough of presenting their co-conspirators in perjury as insane. Unfortunately, that has seeped into mainstream rationale.
 

Stripe

Teenage Adaptive Ninja Turtle
LIFETIME MEMBER
Hall of Fame
The so-called criminal justice systems — really, they are "just a system"s — have enough trouble convicting murderers and executing them swiftly and painfully — y'know, justice — let alone them being tasked with figuring out how retarded people are.

Presented with a justice system that reduces prison terms, or does away with them entirely, for retarded people, is it any surprise that the number of "insane" murderers has risen?
 
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