When, if ever, is the government sanctioned mutilation of a convicted criminal appropriate?

Yes and should be done more often. Rapists and child molesters should be castrated and have large holes put through their nose to identify them. Thieves should have their hands cut off

Never. It makes the state and, thus, us the same as the criminals.

@TheIowaCynic : So if someone is wrongly accused, convicted, and punished… simply a casualty of the most just system available?

We had a debate about this in Government class and I was opposed to it. It’s not right. What does that say about the government if they are allowed to do that? It’s the same reason why I’m opposed to the death penalty. Not to mention it’s possible that innocent people will have that happen to them.

@theluckiest Yes

@TheIowaCynic An eye for an eye… or in this case a testicle for a testicle… bad public policy, IMO. I think most bibe-age punishment methods have been rightly ceased by the developed world.

@theluckiest and our culture is sinking into the mud.

@TheIowaCynic Couldn’t disagree more wholeheartedly but you’re absolutely entitled to your opinion.

I don’t believe in it. For many many reasons. One being there are a large number of wrong convictions. Another being most of those wrong convictions are people of color. Another being that people of color are put in prison and given harsher sentances at Much higher rates than others. Also I think the government would get carried away with it. And I don’t think and eye-for-an-eye should be appropriate at the governmental level. To top it off I believe in rehabilitation and treatment. I think it’s also important to consider that the US LOVES the prison industrial complex and we put insane amounts of people in prison. Check out this link: Prison Populations Across Countries Map

As a past victim of sexual abuse, my immediate reaction to this idea is “Cut it off.” However, as a rational adult woman, my answer is “Never.” Now, should people who sexually abuse children be put in jail for life? I’m am so OK with that idea.

The quality of a society can be measured by the way it treats it’s prisoners
Fyodor Dostoevsky

I’d hate to be the person who has to tell the victim, “Well, there’s the punishment we’d like to give your perpetrator but we can’t because some don’t like the method or they think it’s too harsh or half a dozen other simple reasons. Instead, we’re going to give him a slap on the wrist and send him on his way. Please try to understand.”

@Bluefreedom I’d have no problem being that person. Just because you’ve been violated doesn’t mean you have a blank check for retaliation. That’s not the society we live in.
For the first half of your statement anyway.
The slap on the wrist and on your way part… I don’t so much approve of, but you’re posing those positions as necessarily following. “Oh we won’t mutilate your body so, go happily on your way”. There are several other options.

@augustlan You are brave for saying that, and I agree with you completely.

@theluckiest. I must be far too generous in my thought processes when believing that a victim’s rights should never be secondary to a suspect’s lack of prosecution for their crimes. Maybe I’ve seen too much or become too harsh in my views as a military policeman for the last 21 years. Somehow, though, I don’t think so because I’ve been witness to a lot of very bad things in my career.

@Bluefreedom I’m not sure if it’s what you meant but you said “a suspect’s lack of prosecution”
And if we’re talking about rendering any kind of verdict without thorough, constitutional, and transparent prosecution, I have huuugggeeee problems and would hope that, as a protector of our constitution, for which I sir am unspeakably grateful, you would have big problems too.

When it’s for white criminals, I never get linked to articles about them being wrongly convicted.

@theluckiest. You can interpret my words to read however you want in whatever way makes you feel better. Our criminal justice system is inherently flawed in too many ways to count. I stand by all my previous statements and I’m completely comfortable in all my views, especially after two decades in the field of law enforcement.

@Bluefreedom So you meant to say that a “suspect” i.e. someone that has not been found guilty of a crime, ought to be punished at the discretion of a victim?

I am sorry, but some of these opinions smack a lot of confusing justice with revenge.

Why not go back to vendettas and blood feuds, they all started with someone being wronged?

I too have worked in Law Enforcement, if only for a short while. Just long enough to witness how a very overwhelmed system is grinding up innocent people, disregards due process left and right, and affords efficient defense only to those “solvent” enough to afford it.

Al those wrongfully entered into the system, will certainly not be normal afterwards, as our prison conditions are so miserable that some European countries have begun to refuse extraditing perpetrators to us because they believe the way we treat prisoners violates about every human right there is. Animal factories, pretty much. We breed our own psychopaths.

We as a country have the most draconian penalties in the developed civilized world, yet we also have the highest crime rates and have FOUR TIMES as many prisoners per capita than CHINA

But I guess there will always be the slice ‘em and dice ‘em faction.

Let’s kill ‘em all. If they were close enough to be accused there must be something fishy about them. And the guys doing the really petty stuff like writing a bad check or so, let’s process them through the maniac factories, so we won’t run out of real criminals.

We do very much live in a society that will find each and every excuse possible to not value human life.

ARE YOU NOT ENTERTAINED?.....

@augustlan Do you think jail for life is more humane than killing them?

@TheIowaCynic In terms of length of suffering on the part of the criminal, probably not. In terms of type of suffering, yes. Also, a wrongly convicted person can get a ‘do over’ with one punishment, and not with the other. In the end though, it is not really the criminal I’m thinking about. Putting someone to death has a negative impact on society as a whole, making us less humane in general.

@augustlan, as a past victim myself, I would feel the same except for one thing: too often the abuser was him/herself the victim and the cycle never ends. There is something very wrong about the way we raise our children, and something especially bad and unwholesome in our approaches to sex. It is my firmly held view that prevention is key. If we encouraged open discussion on everything, – and that means everything – then predators could be exposed before they do any harm.