[Rokenn]

Cerek, sorry to take this out on you, please do not take it personally. You are one of the few rational conservatives on this board...

Originally posted by Cerek the Barbaric: quote: Originally posted by Rokenn: Well I for one agree that murder and torture are a bad thing. The level of barbarity displayed in some of the 'Crime and Punishment' threads on this board is truly sickening at times.

Rokenn, I agree that murder - and especially torture - are "bad". However, it is the level of barbarity that is perpetrated in real life that sickens me. Yes, people on this board engage in some "venting" to help express their outrage at such heinous acts as the one described in the article; but the major difference is that the people here are only "talking" about inflicting pain and death on somebody - very few of them {myself included} would actually carry through with these threats.
[/QUOTE]Very true, but thoughts proceed deeds. And the more we dehumanize each other, the more likely we (as a society) are likely to follow through on such ideas.

However, the father in this case DID commit a horrific atrocity on a helpless infant. He deliberately injected an incurable and deadly disease into a BABY!!! Not because he was insane, but because he didn't want the responsibility associated with raising this child. Not only did his actions sentence his own flesh-and-blood to a tortured life and slow death - they also had a tremendously adverse affect on the mother, two sisters, and everyone associated with caring for the boy. All of this was done out of self-centered greed. THAT is a far more barbaric act than anything I have ever seen posted here. If you want to be outraged, then be outraged at the person who actually commits such "barbaric acts".

*sigh* this is the kind of sophomoric arguments I hate about this place. To EVEN insinuate that I think what the father did was in any way not an act of evil is highly insulting, and in my mind a passive/aggressive flame hiding under a veil of sympathy for the victim in this case.. Also my post was a general observation on the tone of the 'crime and punishment' threads on this board, not on this case in particular. Which I feel was clear in what I wrote.

Also, the only time you see these "barbaric" discussions is when the discussion concerns the punishment of somebody who actually committed some horribly barbaric act in REAL LIFE! So, if you want to be outraged, then be outraged at the heartless person who commits such an act rathter than those who just talk about it.

Not in every case, there have been cases as well were this 'blood lust for justice' has been spewed on only accused people. Like the case of the three med students that were thought to be terrorist traveling to Florida. In the aftermath of that case there was no clear cut evidence that they should have even have been under suspicion. Let alone measured, judged, and found wanting by the hanging judges of Ironworks.

Originally posted by Rokenn: Thankfully the founders of the US had the foresight to place a ban on Cruel and Unusual punishment in the Constitution.

Very true. What a pity they couldn't also ban malicious acts of barbaric cruelty on innocent victims.

As other posters have already stated we do have laws of this sort already. Besides the Constitution is there to protect the rights of the individual from the State. Not the other way around.