[Optimus Prime]

So, I was having an interesting conversation with my brother last weekend while in Chicago. Can a Sex Offender be Rehabilitated? Should we just lock them up forever? Or something else?

Also, there are so many people in jail for Drug Use. Should we focus on the Drug Dealers and their imprisonment? Should we put the Drug ABUSERS in treatment rather than jail? What do you guys think?

[HoosierDaddy]

Xander;345220 said:

So, I was having an interesting conversation with my brother last weekend while in Chicago. Can a Sex Offender be Rehabilitated? Should we just lock them up forever? Or something else?

Also, there are so many people in jail for Drug Use. Should we focus on the Drug Dealers and their imprisonment? Should we put the Drug ABUSERS in treatment rather than jail? What do you guys think?

Wow, here's a classic in criminal justice. What's the best way to go about it? Rehabilition vs. punishment.

The problem with sex offenders is that their's something broken upstairs. If it's rape they have a power problem. If it's molestation, they have all sorts of problems. I don't think child molester's can be rehabilitated. My step-dad is the Director of Education for the biggest prison in Indiana, and he says that the child molester's just have something wired wrong in their head and they can't be rehabilitated. Gives them polygram tests about what turns them on, and well, like I said, something is wired wrong.

Drugs: legalize marijuana. Lower the sentences on drug abuse, concentrate on rehabilitation. Raise the sentences on drug dealers, concentrate on imprisonment.

Just my opinion.

[Optimus Prime]

I really couldn't agree more. Molestation....though...if they are "wired" wrong is it their fault? You see where I'm going with this? So should we put them somewhere else....apart from other offenders?

[HoosierDaddy]

Xander;345235 said:

I really couldn't agree more. Molestation....though...if they are "wired" wrong is it their fault? You see where I'm going with this? So should we put them somewhere else....apart from other offenders?

Well, there is in us, obviously this compassion for people who are messed up. The problem is, how much compassion would we have if it was someone we knew?

The crime they commit is in my opinion unforgiveable. Here's my thought, even if they are wired wrong... they don't have to act on it. They still control themselves. In acting... they lose my sympathy. Do I believe they should be in with the regular population? Probably not. Their prison sentence is far worse than anyother's. A child molester is hated by everyone else in prison, and that doesn't bode well for them.

Where could we put them though? Most other people have absolutely no compassion for them after the crime they commit. Do we put them in a mental institution? I don't think so, because they aren't really crazy. They just have sick perversions. Maybe Carlin had the best idea: take a nice square state, put walls around it, and throw them all in there so they can hang out with each other.

[Optimus Prime]

Exactly. I agree, it doesn't excuse the act. But if they are born with this deficiency, for lack of a better term right now, where do we put them? Sex Molester Island?

[HoosierDaddy]

Xander;345240 said:

Exactly. I agree, it doesn't excuse the act. But if they are born with this deficiency, for lack of a better term right now, where do we put them? Sex Molester Island?

Lol. Notice my edit above? Carlin wouldn't mind that solution.

[Shinrei]

I think that's the key though, if they can be rehabilitated and be trusted not to act upon it, then it would stand to reason that they can be released into society.
We don't police thoughts (and we shouldn't), only actions, and I would reckon that for every person who is attracted to children and actually molests one, there are plenty of others who feel the same attraction but will never harm a single child.
It's a heinous (sp?) act, and I agree that their way of thinking probably can never be reformed, but can they be reformed to not follow through to act on their thinking?

[HoosierDaddy]

Shinrei no Shintai;345276 said:

I think that's the key though, if they can be rehabilitated and be trusted not to act upon it, then it would stand to reason that they can be released into society.
We don't police thoughts (and we shouldn't), only actions, and I would reckon that for every person who is attracted to children and actually molests one, there are plenty of others who feel the same attraction but will never harm a single child.
It's a heinous (sp?) act, and I agree that their way of thinking probably can never be reformed, but can they be reformed to not follow through to act on their thinking?

Maybe they could. But, here's the kicker, want to risk a child on their reformation? It's just such a high price if you are wrong.

[Aptorian]

My opinion of child molesters and serial rapists is that they should just be put to death. It's plain and simple. What they've done to other people, especially children, they'll carry with them for the rest of their lives. They haven't killed their victims but they've scarred them for life. It's pretty much the worst crime I can imagine.

As for drug addicts. They should get as much support as possible. Be forced into rehabilitation and probably be forced, at least for half a year or something, to live in a center where proffesionals can monitor them. When they're released a home and a job should be waiting for them, making certain that there's as little chance as possible of them falling through the cracks again.

[Raymond Luxury Yacht]

Optimus Prime;345220 said:

So, I was having an interesting conversation with my brother last weekend while in Chicago. Can a Sex Offender be Rehabilitated? Should we just lock them up forever? Or something else?

Also, there are so many people in jail for Drug Use. Should we focus on the Drug Dealers and their imprisonment? Should we put the Drug ABUSERS in treatment rather than jail? What do you guys think?

I don't think a sex offender can be rehabilitated. It's one of those things that's either with you from birth or picked up at a very young age. They will always be attracted to kids. It's like a fetish, you don't pick these things consciously, and you can't change your mind. Molesters will always like kids, just like a foot guy will always like feet, a chubby chaser will aways like the fatties, etc. Possibly they can be convinced not to act on their desires, but I think the desire will always be there. Chemical castration maybe?

No jail for drug users, legalize marijuana completely for those over 21, use the saved resources and taxes from marijuana to crack down on dealers of hard drugs.

[Optimus Prime]

I just don't understand how a culture (America in this instance) can say drinking beer is fine but smoking weed isn't. Ridiculous. We have all these poor smucks in jail for being caught with like a dime bag. Pathetic.

[Zanth13]

well 2 different issues but the problem with any absolute punishment is that innocent people will be harmed, So I agree completely with Apt, at least if everything was black and white, but innocent people get accused and sent to jail frequently... the modern day justice system is just as flawed as ever.

with drugs, thats a different playground all together, its only bad or evil because we say its so, its not something inherently evil like abusing someone sexually...

Alot of bad things come with drugs, especially heavy drugs, but how much of that is a product of our "war" against it....

why in our society is a casual pot user considered a criminal and a casual drinker considered responsible? WTF?

[Raymond Luxury Yacht]

Zanth13;345385 said:

why in our society is a casual pot user considered a criminal and a casual drinker considered responsible? WTF?

This annoys me too. Compare how often you hear about the following scenarios happening with a drunk person versus a high (on weed) person: driving and killing someone, getting into a fight and hurting/killing someone, hitting their kids or wife, being unable to hold down a job, urinating in public, getting sick/dead/hospitalized from overindulgence, getting raped or raping someone, defecating on a public monument in Denmark, etc. I believe alcohol wins every one of those.

[Aptorian]

That public monument was asking for it, being all tall an building like... who the hell does it think it is, pffh.

[Raymond Luxury Yacht]

I'm sure it was. They always are.

[Wordmerchant]

Optimus Prime;345220 said:

So, I was having an interesting conversation with my brother last weekend while in Chicago. Can a Sex Offender be Rehabilitated? Should we just lock them up forever? Or something else?

Having spent about 20 years of my adult life "treating" these people, it is my firm opinion that some measure of control can be achieved, but there is no true rehabilitative "cure". The formative causes of their need to offend varies, but once it comes into play, it becomes a learned response that meets some particular need for that individual. Like any learned response, it is damn near impossible to remove; the longer the behavior continues, the harder redirecting becomes.

The biochemical and environmental stuff that goes with this is far too complex to even think of addressing here, but suffice it to say, that these are extremely important factors.

[Shinrei]

Quote

My opinion of child molesters and serial rapists is that they should just be put to death. It's plain and simple. What they've done to other people, especially children, they'll carry with them for the rest of their lives. They haven't killed their victims but they've scarred them for life. It's pretty much the worst crime I can imagine.

I agree with Master Luxery Yacht, in that it is most likely a fetish that they are never going to rehabilitate from. Therefore I am all for locking them away.

However, killing them? We'd have to scrap any and all "mental defect" defenses in the criminal justice system. Do you think we should just kill all offenders who are mentally retarded too?

Lock them up so they can't do harm to others, but killing them because of some biological quirk seems a little extreme.

[Aptorian]

Well, personally I'm not a believer in the whole "punish to prevent crime not to avenge crime" thingy. A little justice just for the sake of the family is more than fair sometimes.

When you do something particularly evil to another person, I think you forfit your life. If someone raped or killed my children, a year in prison or some psyciatric hospital evaluation would not be enough. No where enough.

[Nequam]

Who gets out on a year!?!

I agree that is more of a fetish, but when said like that it sounds odd. We are throwing people in jail for a fetish they have. So I'm going to call it a perversion.

Personally I think that a sex offender should never be released from jail, and they should all be in the same place, but the death penalty is not neccesary in my eyes.

@Xander(err...Optimus Prime), why the name change?

[Aptorian]

Pedophiles often don't get much more than a year here in Denmark. Espcially the first offenders.

It's depressing.