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Post by e26 on Oct 13, 2015 2:57:18 GMT -6
Hi everyone,
I am a British student conducting some research into both anti and pro-death penalty for the mentally ill, and was wondering if any of you could give your opinions on the matter if you support the sentencing of the mentally ill to death? Any feedback may be anonymously included in my project, and I will present it in an unbiased manner, as I am simply evaluating both sides of the argument. Many thanks!
E.
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Post by JJ on Oct 14, 2015 16:26:25 GMT -6
Hi E I'm not sure it can ever be ethical to sentence a person to death when it can be proved beyond all reasonable doubt that their mental illness was either directly responsible for or impaired their judgement in the commission of a criminal act. The priority for these offenders has to be to ensure they receive an appropriate level of treatment and care within a safe and controlled environment until such time as they are fully rehabilitated and no longer considered to pose any risk in the community. Good luck with the project!
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Post by SMOD on Oct 21, 2015 16:34:14 GMT -6
There is nothing to evaluate. This issue has been long settled by statute and case law. Each state and the feds define competence. There are minor differences. There are also 3 different stages:
1. A defendant must be competent at the time the crime is committed. This is usually defined as knows the difference between right and wrong. 2. A defendant must be able to understand and assist his atty at trial. 3. A defendant must understand why they are being executed.
The system works fine. AntiDPers, which I assume includes the student, want any allegation of mental illness whether proven or not to bar execution. It's not going to happen.
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Post by bernard on Oct 26, 2015 16:01:02 GMT -6
Hi everyone,
I am a British student conducting some research into both anti and pro-death penalty for the mentally ill, and was wondering if any of you could give your opinions on the matter if you support the sentencing of the mentally ill to death? Any feedback may be anonymously included in my project, and I will present it in an unbiased manner, as I am simply evaluating both sides of the argument. Many thanks!
E. It ought to depend on a person's reasons for supporting the dp. If they support it on retributive grounds---i.e. they want to kill people who deserve it---then they ought to oppose executing people who are not sufficiently sane to take responsibility for their actions. If, on the other hand, they support it because they think it is the best way to prevent that person from committing future crimes, then it ought not to matter whether or not they are mentally competent. What matters is that they are dangerous. But of course, by the same logic they should favor killing drunk drivers. Full disclosure: I am against the death penalty. Supporters typically don't like the way that I unpack the consequences of their position, so they might disagree with what I wrote here. I am right, however.
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Post by supermax on Nov 10, 2015 14:38:21 GMT -6
Can you please define "mentally ill".
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Post by whitediamonds on Nov 11, 2015 10:16:46 GMT -6
Can you please define "mentally ill". Question avoided as usual.
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Post by bernard on Nov 12, 2015 18:52:27 GMT -6
Can you please define "mentally ill". Question avoided as usual. I think the question was addressed to the original poster.
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