Should life mean life

[Deleted member 1609]

The Labour Party (or "New Labour") should just seal the deal and merge into the Conservative Party.

 

[Deleted member 4320]

The Labour Party (or "New Labour") should just seal the deal and merge into the Conservative Party.

They hate each other?

 

[Deleted member 1609]

I don't see why. They're only a stone's throw away from each other on the political spectrum.

 

[The Reverend]

The Labour Party (or "New Labour") should just seal the deal and merge into the Conservative Party.

They hate each other?

They are turning into the same thing dan, gordon brown= maggie thatcher of th 00's, ruined the country

 

[Deleted member 1609]

I find it amusing that Margaret Thatcher is basically the same person as Ronald Reagan, but Margaret Thatcher is generally hated in the UK while Ronald Reagan is basically a god in the USA.

 

[The Reverend]

I find it amusing that Margaret Thatcher is basically the same person as Ronald Reagan, but Margaret Thatcher is generally hated in the UK while Ronald Reagan is basically a god in the USA.

Every person that isnt a snob hates thatcher in the UK.

 

[Deleted member 1609]

Every person who is rich, white, male, or psychotically religious (i.e. ninety-five percent of the population) loves Ronald Reagan in the USA.

Ronald Reagan destroyed the USA as well, though, but he usually gets credit for the cyclical economic recovery that just so happened to occur in the early years of his administration. Reagan is the person who created the massive U.S. deficit.

 

[The Reverend]

Every person who is rich, white, male, or psychotically religious (i.e. ninety-five percent of the population) loves Ronald Reagan in the USA.

Ronald Reagan destroyed the USA as well, though, but he usually gets credit for the cyclical economic recovery that just so happened to occur in the early years of his administration. Reagan is the person who created the massive U.S. deficit.

Yeah good point, this getting off topic though, this has gone from life sentences to maggie and ronald reagan lol.

 

[Deleted member 1609]

You're right. Anyway, I think that emphasizing punishment over rehabilitation is somewhat self-defeating because rehabilitating criminals actually has a chance to make society better while locking them away forever really doesn't do anything. It just wastes potential and tax money.

 

[The Reverend]

I don't see why. They're only a stone's throw away from each other on the political spectrum.

good point

 

[Fiona1964]

Ok what about some one who kills many people over a number of years before they are caught

Or better still we let a murder free after what you call rehabilitation and then he kills again that means another family suffer

 

[Deleted member 1609]

Or better still we let a murder free after what you call rehabilitation and then he kills again that means another family suffer

I don't think that you understand what I mean by "rehabilitation." Each prisoner should have to be evaluated by a psychologist and deemed to be fit to reintegrate into society before he can be set free. Most people who commit murder are not serial killers; indeed, many murders are isolated incidents. In fact, I would say that any person can be driven to murder under certain circumstances.

For example, my psychology professor told us a story of a person who was taken to prison for dodge-drafting during Vietnam (which was more common sense than anything since Vietnam was the most pointless war until Iraq). When he was in prison, he ended up killing a person because he became very paranoid. He wasn't a murderer, but he ended up committing a murder while in prison. He ended up in a very bad situation. Had he not been a draft-dodger, he never would have killed anybody.

I'm also not saying that every single person will be rehabilitated if we emphasize rehabilitation over punishment. I'm saying that society would be in a much, much, much better position if we actually tried to rehabilitate criminals instead of just locking them away forever.

 

[The Reverend]

You're right. Anyway, I think that emphasizing punishment over rehabilitation is somewhat self-defeating because rehabilitating criminals actually has a chance to make society better while locking them away forever really doesn't do anything. It just wastes potential and tax money.

i see your point, but if they are known to have some sort of disorder or condition, the judge should take that into consideration when giving a sentence

 

[Branden]

Life in the UK means 25 years but you are out in 12 and a half, I know because a friends brother got life and he did 12 years for delivering the fatal blow in a drunken fight, he's in his mid 30's now and has his whole life still ahead of him. Unfortunately the other bloke doesn't?

What ever sentence you get in the UK you only ever serve half unless you misbehave while inside too?

I think you should at least serve what they give you or give you the real time to serve in the first place?
our system is totally cocked up!

Yes, a life sentence should me life for me.

Well said MissTake.

I agree with her. When somebody, say, shortens somebodies life, why should they be aloud to experience their life anymore? I am pretty sure life in the US is 25 years as well and like MissTake said, you can get out in half of that.

I agree that our law systems are all messed up and this needs to be fixed.

I agree that life should mean life in prison.

 

[The Reverend]

Life in the UK means 25 years but you are out in 12 and a half, I know because a friends brother got life and he did 12 years for delivering the fatal blow in a drunken fight, he's in his mid 30's now and has his whole life still ahead of him. Unfortunately the other bloke doesn't?

What ever sentence you get in the UK you only ever serve half unless you misbehave while inside too?

I think you should at least serve what they give you or give you the real time to serve in the first place?
our system is totally cocked up!

Yes, a life sentence should me life for me.

Well said MissTake.

I agree with her. When somebody, say, shortens somebodies life, why should they be aloud to experience their life anymore? I am pretty sure life in the US is 25 years as well and like MissTake said, you can get out in half of that.

I agree that our law systems are all messed up and this needs to be fixed.

I agree that life should mean life in prison.

americas judicial system is about 500x better than the uk's. its because of mr cameron and his wife- mr clegg :lol: . Although it would be unfair to blame it all on them, it certainly is partially their fault

 

[The Elite]

Generally speaking, if you did a crime worthy of a life sentence, you deserve to rot in there.

Implying that someones perspective of the crime should define ones life. Precedent is barely used anymore, now it's based simply on the Judges ruling. One may only receive 10 years with one Judge, but 25 with another.

I don't agree with life meaning life. People can be sentenced to more than 25 years in jail, it's just the term they use for 25 years. This debate is completely invalid, life is not the maximum sentence one can reason. What are we even debating?

 

[Deleted member 1609]

Another thing to consider is the age of the perpetrator. Our justice system (at least in the United States) is so screwed up that very young people (children or teenagers) can commit a crime and get sentenced to twenty years or even life. Heck, I'm sure that they still execute minors in some states. There needs to be a maximum sentence for young people. Rehabilitation is clearly still an option with young people.

 

[AnAccount]

Another thing to consider is the age of the perpetrator. Our justice system (at least in the United States) is so screwed up that very young people (children or teenagers) can commit a crime and get sentenced to twenty years or even life. Heck, I'm sure that they still execute minors in some states. There needs to be a maximum sentence for young people. Rehabilitation is clearly still an option with young people.

I think with young kids who don't know what they're doing is wrong just yet, rehab would probably be the better option for them rather than reading out the charges and putting them in jail. They have some idea of what's right and what's wrong, but haven't yet been taught the full aspects of it just yet so rehab really would be the better option.

As for life in prison, I feel that life should mean life, like everyone else has said. Not this life in prison but only serving 25 years crap.

 

[alfred01]

Canadian laws are very similar to the U.K. In my opinion, laughable. Just to clarify Fiona, I think what you mean is that in the U.S. if you're given life without parole then that mean's you're gonna die in prison. Some life sentence's in the U.S. will have the possibility of parole after how ever many year's the judge decides. In essence Fiona, I agree with you, and I think the first step is to abolish the word "parole"!

And just a footnote to Snobothehobo: I agree that rehabilitation would be the answer of choice, however, is this realistic? The rate of recidivism worldwide is about 75%. Many of these prisoner's don't want to be rehabilitated.

 

[Deleted member 1609]

And just a footnote to Snobothehobo: I agree that rehabilitation would be the answer of choice, however, is this realistic? The rate of recidivism worldwide is about 75%. Many of these prisoner's don't want to be rehabilitated.

I would argue that the seventy-five percent is caused by the fact that very few legitimate rehabilitation programs exist around the world. I'll use the example of Norway. Norway has a very low rate of recidivism while they also have some of the lightest sentences in the Western world. No crime in Norway is punishable by more than twenty-one years. The prison systems in most Western countries (especially the U.S. and the UK) are broken. I think that Norway also sufficiently addresses many confounding economic factors with its social safety net, though.

I think that rehabilitation is realistic if it's given a legitimate shot.