The whole "You don't kill kids" argument is absurd too. When does an individual stop being a kid, whose life is precious, and become an adult - whose life may be forfeit depending upon their perceived crimes? Not so long ago on this forum the self-same spittle-flecked, raging advocates of retribution wanted to kill the very children they claim to cherish! If your emotions are so out of control to this extent, it's a good job that the justice system is well outside your hands, chaps.

Some human beings become damaged goods because of the way they were treated as children. They end up committing abhorrent crimes because they were broken, as children, by the treatment they received from adults and society. Why does our pity run out for these people? Where is humanity and compassion? The amount of anger and sheer sadism directed at people generally, not just on this thread but throughout this forum, makes me despair for the Human race.

 

Bob, this is SN, what is the point of asking people to actually consider anything?

 

As Bub has moved us into the area of criminology.

Arguments suggest that those who commit crime do so because of either nature or nurture. Sutherland's Differential Association Theory suggests that learning in a social environment depends on the cultural conflict between different factions in a society over who has the power to determine what is acceptable. If it seen as acceptable to behave in a criminal manner, then by observing this behaviour it is said to make the witness a product of the behaviour. However it can be argued that not every child who was a victim of crime or witnessed crime goes on to become a criminal.

Bandura's Theory of Social Learning suggests that childhood is the prime time for Social Learning to take place. This theory suggests that there is a four stage practice to the nurturing of this behaviour. This starts with Attention; observing another person's behaviour and the consequences of that behaviour. The second stage is Retention; storing a mental image of what has been witnessed. Reproduction follows as the third stage, this entails taking the stored mental images and converting them to overt behaviour. The fourth and final stage is motivation. This stage suggests that there must be a benefit achieved by carrying out the behaviour. If there is no benefit in doing so, then motivation to carry out the behaviour is unlikely to occur. However, it could be argued that this theory does not only teach children to go on to be the perpetrators of crime, as by observing the behaviour and the consequences, the child may decide that they will never do such a thing themselves in the future.

Some arguments suggest that only people from worse off backgrounds will go on to be criminals, but this does not reflect the fact that white collar crime exists.

As Bubba asks, why does our pity run out on these people? May I suggest that SN appears to suffer from: fear of the unknown/fear of crime, limited exposure to criminals amd crime, the Daily Mail tells them not to show pity, assuming the only people who commit crime are unintelligent.

Personally, coming in to contact with criminals or the victims of crime, on an almost daily basis, I see people who I know will only ever be criminals and understand why some people cry out for the death penalty, I also see people who commit a crime, and when caught, realise the error of the ways and the fear of imprisonment is enough to get them on to the straight and narrow. I've seen both adults and children who have been victims of crime and will continue to be victims throughout their lives and these people need support and compassion. I've also seen victims who turn to crime after being aggrieved by a criminal event which effects them.

As for bringing back the death penalty, for murderers (and attempt murders) I'd like to mention the teacher who lamped the school boy a few months ago. Yes, the child is a known ****bag, and there were many pupils out in support of the teacher, from the contributory actions of this boy (and a few others) the teacher suffered a mental breakdownso should this teacher have also faced a death penalty if the boy had died?

 

Ah, but she acted whilst not of sound mind so f*cking annoying that people can run with that ...

TX.

 

Agreed + it was her own kids As a parent how can that even enter your mind ...

TX.