Posted by alexandra_k on February 2, 2006, at 23:09:51
In reply to Re: Andrea Yates made bail, posted by deirdrehbrt on February 2, 2006, at 22:24:17
> I don't like the idea of "sentencing" someone for a specified period of time to a hospital.
Even when the goal of hospital is education and rehabilitation and prevention of reoffending? It could actually be an opportunity... To get some decent therapy. To get on some decent meds. To get some kind of education. To discover something worthwhile to do...
> What Andrea did was a symptom of illness, not a deliberate act of violence.
Intention can be a hard thing to figure...
I personally think intention is less important than is often supposed (mostly because of difficulties in assessing it).
You can disregard completely...
And you can focus on consequences.
If people have minimal negative consequences for violent crimes then the number of violent crimes in the population goes up...
If there are negative consequences for violent crimes then there are less violent crimes in the population...
It isn't just about her
It is about other people who see the consequences that she gets
And that goes on to affect their behavior too> Though the act wasn't her responsibility...
That is a hard one to assess... I think the only relevant point is that she did in fact commit the act. Who is to say that it won't happen again? I think it is a tragedy all round...
> she shall pay for it for the rest of her life.
I don't think either imprisonment or mental institutions should be about 'paying' or 'retribution'. I think they should be about prevention of offending...
> I think she deserves treatment.
I think everybody deserves treatment. Has a right to. And don't the criminals who end up in jail tend to have anti-social personality?
> She will maybe need life-long monitoring of her condition.
Yep. Hence... Mental institution.
poster:alexandra_k
thread:605510
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/social/20060124/msgs/605712.html