• This is a political forum that is non-biased/non-partisan and treats every person's position on topics equally. This debate forum is not aligned to any political party. In today's politics, many ideas are split between and even within all the political parties. Often we find ourselves agreeing on one platform but some topics break our mold. We are here to discuss them in a civil political debate. If this is your first visit to our political forums, be sure to check out the RULES. Registering for debate politics is necessary before posting. Register today to participate - it's free!

Should we bring back flogging in lieu of prison time?

Should we bring back flogging?


  • Total voters
    13

Kandahar

Enemy Combatant
DP Veteran
Joined
Jul 20, 2005
Messages
20,688
Reaction score
7,320
Location
Washington, DC
Gender
Male
Political Leaning
Liberal
An interesting idea from the Washington Post today. Why not bring back flogging for nonviolent criminals in lieu of prison time...or at least allow them the option to choose between the two punishments? Flogging was abolished in this country because people began to view it as barbaric, and as a violation of the 8th Amendment's ban on "cruel and unusual punishment." But what does it say about our criminal justice system that most people would probably opt for this barbaric punishment instead of the more "humane" punishment of locking them in a cage and subjecting them to daily rapes for years at a time?

Let's reserve prison for the truly dangerous people, and start using alternative punishments for everyone else. Flogging would certainly be cheaper for the government, less likely to put the criminal in contact with other criminals, and IMO a far more civilized punishment than the conditions that exist in our prisons.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opini...-back-the-lash/2011/06/10/AGBIpUWH_story.html
 
Last edited:
An interesting idea from the Washington Post today. Why not bring back flogging for nonviolent criminals in lieu of prison time...or at least allow them the option to choose between the two punishments? Flogging was abolished in this country because people began to view it as barbaric, and as a violation of the 8th Amendment's ban on "cruel and unusual punishment." But what does it say about our criminal justice system that most people would probably opt for this barbaric punishment instead of the more "humane" punishment of locking them in a cage and subjecting them to daily rapes for years at a time?

Let's reserve prison for the truly dangerous people, and start using alternative punishments for everyone else. Flogging would certainly be cheaper for the government, less likely to put the criminal in contact with other criminals, and IMO a far more civilized punishment than the conditions that exist in our prisons.

In lieu of prison, bring back the lash - The Washington Post

Is says we are way too lenient in prisons. First remove the weight machines. Exercise will consist of hard work everyday. Discipline will be tougher than the military.
 
While our current prison system is hideously and need of reform flogging in the not the answer. The pain is momentary and doesn't mitigate any potential threat from the offender. It also condones tortures and promotes a sadistic mentality.
 
While our current prison system is hideously and need of reform flogging in the not the answer. The pain is momentary and doesn't mitigate any potential threat from the offender. It also condones tortures and promotes a sadistic mentality.

So we are less criminal society today than 200 years ago?
 
While our current prison system is hideously and need of reform flogging in the not the answer. The pain is momentary and doesn't mitigate any potential threat from the offender.

Most offenders don't pose any threat in the first place. Most of them are nonviolent people who either A) are guilty of some bull**** crime that shouldn't be a crime in the first place, or B) are guilty of doing something stupid where they need SOME sort of punishment but don't need to be isolated from society.

I'm not saying that this should apply to EVERYONE...just the nonviolent offenders.

rathi said:
It also condones tortures and promotes a sadistic mentality.

And cages/rape don't? Isn't flogging considerably less barbaric than that? If we go by the prisoner's own (assumed) preference for flogging over incarceration, it would seem that most people would consider prison time more cruel than flogging. So let's worry about replacing prison time with some less cruel alternative punishment - whether it's flogging or something else - before we worry about whether THOSE things are too cruel as well.
 
Yes, let's bring back flogging. That way, we can be just like Iran. Great move. :mrgreen:
 
Is says we are way too lenient in prisons.

Have you ever set foot in a prison? I have (no, not as a convict). They are not happy places by any stretch of the imagination. They are the closest thing to hell on earth that we have in this country.

American said:
First remove the weight machines. Exercise will consist of hard work everyday. Discipline will be tougher than the military.

This isn't really relevant to the thread. My question is how can we possibly consider flogging to be "cruel and unusual punishment" when we openly use an even more horrifying form of punishment.
 
Yes, let's bring back flogging. That way, we can be just like Iran. Great move. :mrgreen:

Even Iran doesn't subject 743 per 100,000 of its citizens to the horrors of prison. In fact, our incarceration rate is more than three times Iran's. When it comes to the human rights abuses of our criminal justice system, we are in a class all by ourselves.

800px-Prisoner_population_rate_UN_HDR_2007_2008.PNG
 
Last edited:
Sure as an option I suppose, but not in public

I don't want to see that when I walk outside
 
Have you ever set foot in a prison? I have (no, not as a convict). They are not happy places by any stretch of the imagination. They are the closest thing to hell on earth that we have in this country.

Beat me to it. I'm not sure where we as a nation got the idea that our prisons are border-line resorts, but it seems to have stuck. Maybe someone made a comparison to another nation's prisons at one point, declared that ours our resorts by comparison, and then the comparison got bastardized.
 
Do you remember that case a few years back where some american kid in singapore or Hong Kong was caned? Seems to me for stupid violent acts that would be ideal. vandalism or the asses who drop concrete bricks or blocks onto the freeway are two perfect examples where a public caning would be appropriate.
 
Do you remember that case a few years back where some american kid in singapore or Hong Kong was caned? Seems to me for stupid violent acts that would be ideal. vandalism or the asses who drop concrete bricks or blocks onto the freeway are two perfect examples where a public caning would be appropriate.

I agree. Some people just need to be taught to get their heads out of their asses, they don't need to be locked up. It would probably be a good idea for a lot of white-collar crime too, where the offender doesn't pose any real danger to society but nevertheless needs to be punished somehow.
 
Maybe we could make them do community service doing the same kind of work as they show in that program Dirty Jobs -- scrub out the inside of this **** tank, boy, or you're gettin' a whuppin!
 
I agree. Some people just need to be taught to get their heads out of their asses, they don't need to be locked up. It would probably be a good idea for a lot of white-collar crime too, where the offender doesn't pose any real danger to society but nevertheless needs to be punished somehow.


and you aren't going to turn them into more effective criminals. some prisons are to mopes as Harvard business school is to entrepreneurs
 
Maybe we could make them do community service doing the same kind of work as they show in that program Dirty Jobs -- scrub out the inside of this **** tank, boy, or you're gettin' a whuppin!

That's another possibility. As I see it, there are lots of good alternatives to prison time that would be appropriate for most nonviolent offenders. Flogging, a fine, community service, public shaming, house arrest, etc. IMO the only people who really belong in prison are people who have committed violent crimes or people who are a flight risk.
 
While our current prison system is hideously and need of reform flogging in the not the answer. The pain is momentary and doesn't mitigate any potential threat from the offender. It also condones tortures and promotes a sadistic mentality.

i voted yes. as far as your comment.....it wasn't just the "pain" which deterred the crime element. it was the "stigma" of being
publicly flogged. you're basically tied to a post in front of family and neighbors with your charges being read aloud in the public square,
and then whipped mercilessly. it had a psychological effect, i'm sure.
 
Sure! Give them the choice and if they take it on? Let em do it. BTW, it would make for good tv too. Instead of LockUp Raw? We see Flogging Raw. If these scumbags wish to give up their rights and be flogged? Who am I to argue. Of course what if you have someone who gets off on this type of pain? It will not deter them from commiting more crimes. As a matter of fact I am not sure flogging would be a good idea in the end cause it is like getting an adult spanking.
 
Sure! Give them the choice and if they take it on? Let em do it. BTW, it would make for good tv too. Instead of LockUp Raw? We see Flogging Raw. If these scumbags wish to give up their rights and be flogged? Who am I to argue. Of course what if you have someone who gets off on this type of pain? It will not deter them from commiting more crimes. As a matter of fact I am not sure flogging would be a good idea in the end cause it is like getting an adult spanking.

but some people get off on confinement, as well. are you suggesting that there's an element of the prison population there because
they have a fetish for bondage, so we should release them?
 
I agree. Some people just need to be taught to get their heads out of their asses, they don't need to be locked up. It would probably be a good idea for a lot of white-collar crime too, where the offender doesn't pose any real danger to society but nevertheless needs to be punished somehow.

Do you think these white collar ***** criminals are gonna take that beating? I bet you that most of these white collars will take lockdown over getting flogged. It would be fun to see how many of them ***** out and go to lock down. Them whitecollar dudes don't have the balls nor the skin to do that. I am being mean tonight:2razz:
 
but some people get off on confinement, as well. are you suggesting that there's an element of the prison population there because
they have a fetish for bondage, so we should release them?

Good point. I did not think of that. But those that have the confinement fetish in the real world are able to make it end at any time. They are free. Folks in lockdown are not free. What I am trying to say is that folks that take the flogging can do it and then walk away. Should punishment be that quick and fast?
 
Good point. I did not think of that. But those that have the confinement fetish in the real world are able to make it end at any time. They are free. Folks in lockdown are not free. What I am trying to say is that folks that take the flogging can do it and then walk away. Should punishment be that quick and fast?

well, it's a small percentage, either way. people love to make excuses for the criminal element in America. love labeling
it a "reaction to poverty" or a "reaction to past traumatic experience". it's all the same to the victim of a crime, though.
if someone would put a gun to my head, i think the last thing on my mind would be wondering whether the man behind
the gun was an abused child, and then sympathizing with his ass right before he blew my head off and took my wallet.
imo...american society has way too much sympathy for criminals.
 
Even Iran doesn't subject 743 per 100,000 of its citizens to the horrors of prison. In fact, our incarceration rate is more than three times Iran's. When it comes to the human rights abuses of our criminal justice system, we are in a class all by ourselves.

800px-Prisoner_population_rate_UN_HDR_2007_2008.PNG

Subject????? Talk about a distorted view.
 
Back
Top Bottom