Yourself and Dennis seem to have an issue with paying taxes to let murderers live. By asking 'why send people to Prison at all?' , I was hoping you'd put some thought into what prison is all about and how it can change people.Giorgios said:What are you getting at Conky, I'm sorry.
The bottom line is that for whatever reason...good people do bad things. The Colorado Cinema shooting suspect, and the Newtown shooting suspect were not criminals with a violent history. They are/were people who wake up in the morning, go to work, come home, play xbox and then sleep. Something psychologically has told them to do what they did.
Contrary to common belief prison is not a free haven where people get fed, watered and a place to sleep with a roof over their head. They have access to counselling and numerous inside programs designed to help them change their lives. I have visited prisons many times (I have a cousin who is normally locked up for many months at a time). Most of the people inside are good people who love their wives + children but have resorted to bad things. Many people who leave change and do not re-offend.
At the end of the day, life is a right and not a privilege given by those in power (this is why we have human rights laws). You cannot simply give somebody the death penalty without first establishing their motive (was it deliberate / was it psychological). Do they show remorse? Can they change with counselling?
Your taxes go towards keeping somebody who has the right to live...alive and give them the opportunity to change and give back when they are released.
As far as re-offenders, or people who set out to kill where there is no psychological motive, then yes these people do no longer have the right to live, just as they have taken away somebody else's right.







