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Should a criminal's mental illness have an impact on how he or she is punished?

Should a criminal's mental illness have an impact on how he or she is punished?


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jamesrage

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Should a criminal's mental illness have an impact on how he or she is punished?

I say no. It doesn't change the fact that person committed the crime. Justice and the victims should not be ignored just because some quack deems the criminal insane.
 
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You're in the BN forum.
 
Should a criminal's mental illness have an impact on how he or she is punished?

I say no. It doesn't change the fact that person committed the crime.

It depends. If it actually has an impact on the person's ability to think properly...then I would say yes. It hardly seems fair to mete out a harsh punishment to someone if they won't understand why they are being punished, if they truly don't remember committing the crime, if they were not "themselves" when they committed the crime, etc. Better to get them the mental help that they need. Prison should be reserved for the worst of the worst.
 
This should have been in the Polls forum, I'm sure it will get moved but anyway:

It depends on the illness, I can't specify illnesses that would serve as a good example, but whenever you think of the situation in jail, consider the fact that illnesses might be harmful to other inmates, etc.

(hard to explain)

Or those with severe illnesses should get treatment in prison hospitals.
 
Considering that each state's system of law has various degrees for murder by people who aren't mentally ill, I don't see why the mentally ill wouldn't be extended the same courtesy.
 
This should have been in the Polls forum, I'm sure it will get moved but anyway:

It depends on the illness, I can't specify illnesses that would serve as a good example, but whenever you think of the situation in jail, consider the fact that illnesses might be harmful to other inmates, etc.

(hard to explain)

Or those with severe illnesses should get treatment in prison hospitals.

Schizophrenia. My wife's cousin suffers it so severely that without her medication the world she can't tell AT ALL the difference between the real world and her hallucinations and has(while off her medication) attacked people and even some objects thinking they are monsters.
 
Schizophrenia. My wife's cousin suffers it so severely that without her medication the world she can't tell AT ALL the difference between the real world and her hallucinations and has(while off her medication) attacked people and even some objects thinking they are monsters.

Yes, this.

The thread that inspired this discussed bipolar disorder, and, I believe that bipolar should be considered a mitigating factor in some cases, as well. During a manic phase, someone with bipolar disorder may not sleep for days on end. The lack of sleep can lead to disorientation and a break with reality. Paired with the extreme risk taking behavior that is often present in a manic phase, this can cause a situation where the person cannot control their actions.
 
Yes, this.

The thread that inspired this discussed bipolar disorder, and, I believe that bipolar should be considered a mitigating factor in some cases, as well. During a manic phase, someone with bipolar disorder may not sleep for days on end. The lack of sleep can lead to disorientation and a break with reality. Paired with the extreme risk taking behavior that is often present in a manic phase, this can cause a situation where the person cannot control their actions.

I can see bipolar as a mitigating factor, but not one which trumps the persons ability to know right from wrong and act on it.

I am convinced that Schizophrenia often does cause people to be unable to know right from wrong. These people should be treated in an attempt to gain the ability to apprehend reality. They are 'not guilty' when they commit a crime.

I believe that psychopaths also are not able to tell right from wrong. I believe they do not feel guilt, and have no sense that what they do is wrong. I believe that they are made by their treatment when they are young (though genetics or pre-natal development may also play a role). However, I believe these should probably nevertheles be put to death or locked away permanently without any possibility of regaining freedom. I think they should be kept separated from people we intend to release (ie, most of the rest of the prison population).
 
Execute them, society will be better off in the long run.....;)
 
to me, for there to be a crime, there first must be "intent"--If a person is actually nuts enough, to not know what they are doing, then it could be considered an "accident, if the illness was sever enough.----I had to totally re do this post, I forgot what forum I was in.
 
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If someone has a mental illness that impedes their ability to distinguish between fantasy and reality, or impedes their decision making abilities, then that should be taken into account if they commit a crime. However, if the illness is a known one, and they are voluntarily refusing treatment/meds/etc. then they should not get special consideration for their illness.
 
I think our method is fine. If the person didn't understand that what they were doing was wrong they get treatment rather than punishment.
 
Nope!.................
 
Same rationale as the "hate crime," I don't care WHY you killed X, I just want you taken FAR away from those you would harm.

I don't care if your brain lead you to believe you were feeding people candy, you'll not feed candy to me.
 
depends on the type and severity of mental illness, with the bloke with bi polar, he would have probably known what he was doing, if it was severe he wouldn't have travelled, however if he had severe autism or down syndrome or scizophrenia, then thats a different matter
 
That all depends on the mental disorder or disability. While a schizophrenic might not be to blame for the results of his disorder, a person with a phobia is as able to tell right from wrong as the rest of us.

People should not be punished for being sick. If someone commits a crime because of a mental disorder he should receive all possible care and treatment - if necessary by force.

Not all people can be treated. In some cases society failed to take action in time and an individual developed a dissocial personality disorder leading to violent behaviour. Or the perpetrators are mentally retarded. In those cases there are rarely much that can be done to treat the disorder and the only right thing to do will be to detain them in secure psychiatric hospitals until they are no longer able to be a threat to society.

I also think psychiatric disorders ought to have a say in sentencing the same way physical illness have. While a disorder might not have influenced the crime in any way it might be cause for a reduced sentence. The prison system is designed with fit young men in mind and putting a psychiatric patient into that system will result in him being disproportionally punished compared with his peers.
 
What’s the purpose of our criminal justice system? Does it exist to sequester dangerous elements from the rest of society? To punish people that have offended our morality? To “fix” maladjusted people so they can be returned to society without committing more crime?

Obviously, it exists to punish and sequester without regard for recidivism. If we seriously gave a **** about reducing recidivism, I’m sure we could have come up with something more effective than a system that allows 2/3 of all criminals to return to jail.

Since this whole game is just about hurting and excluding the people who have hurt us, I don’t see mental illness playing much of a role in how we treat criminals. After all, most criminal behavior can be ascribed to having a brain that isn’t wired as optimally as everyone else, resulting in fun things like poor planning, judgment, and impulse control and weakened emotional regulation. Where’s the difference between the guy who flies into a rage at what normal people consider a slight provocation and the guy who thinks cracking open skulls kills the monsters trapped inside?
 
Any justice system that claims to be civilized must ascertain the intentions of the criminal when proceeding with a case. If your intentions are based on an uncontrolled hallucination, a psychotic delusion that is naturally occurring in your mind, or any mental factor beyond your control which severely limits your function and rational mind, then that must certainly be taken into account when rendering a verdict.

Chinese society is way behind when it comes to psychological illness. In Mandarin there is one word for describing your health, 身体 (shen[1]ti[3]). It literally means body. "My body/health is good right now", "My body/health is not so good." Health is synonymous with your physical body. The average person has no concept of psychiatry of psychological disorder. If someone is acting out, they are 毛病 (mao[2]bing[4]) "troubled".

There are no social services there for people with mental issues. In the last year that I was there, the woman who lived in the building across from me would scream at all hours of the night from her balcony at someone who wasn't there. She would boil pots of water and throw them out the window to get rid of this invisible person. She had zero agency. People just called her "troubled" and went along their merry way.

So what can we expect from a society that operates at such a level? They don't even acknowledge mental illness in people who aren't criminals, so why would their justice system give a pass to a foreigner - who, by the way, was headed to Xinjiang and had a Muslim name - who claims to be mentally ill?

The court case lasted 30 minutes. There was no time for witnesses, expert testimony, or even for foreign diplomats to get together any kind of legal defense. Those of you who are giving a nod of approval to such a shoddy system must secretly get kicks out of dictatorships. Why do you live in the U.S., exactly, if you think this kind of "swift justice" is so enviable?

Then there are the other levels... like, sometimes executions are rushed so that officials can profit off of organ transplants. Look it up, the Chinese government openly profits off of those executed in the body parts trade. Is the guy's family ever going to see his body? Fat chance. They'll probably get a bill in the mail for the bullet used to shoot him between the eyes.

It's sick. Whether or not this guy deserved to die is beside the point that China doesn't give a damn if he is innocent or guilty, incapacitated mentally or fully functional. They don't think on that level. It's beyond them. Seriously. I've lived there, and I'm not so PC that I'll see bull**** and call it a rose. The thing that sickens me the most is that whether or not you spectators approve or disapprove with the execution is based on your political agenda; you don't give a toss whether or not someone's humanitarian rights were openly violated. You are the first people to cry out when a Christian is detained in North Korea. Bunch of hypocrites.
 
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I'm pretty sure he wasn't being sarcastic.

I wasn't......
Why waste money on mentally defective criminals?.....
The money could be put to better use on something else......
No smiley, at all......
 
No, he's just a troll. I doubt he even believes the **** he writes most of the time.

Not conforming to your Liberal point of view is not trolling.....
This world already is overpopulated, why artificially sustain a mentally defective part of the population?......
A criminal one at that?......
 
Should a criminal's mental illness have an impact on how he or she is punished?

I say no. It doesn't change the fact that person committed the crime. Justice and the victims should not be ignored just because some quack deems the criminal insane.
of course mental illness should be taken into account. by your measure, a spur of the moment manslaughter, (say, shoving someone into a wall), that results in death, is the same as shooting someone point blank.
 
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