Should they fry him or hug him?

[darkbeaver]

Good points pangloss.

 

[Sparrow]

Nobody is born bad. When you are born you have no qualities and no faults. After that whatever you become you have learned. A baby begins learning and being influenced the minute he/she is born.

 

[s243a]

Nobody is born bad. When you are born you have no qualities and no faults. After that whatever you become you have learned. A baby begins learning and being influenced the minute he/she is born.

I think this is a dangerous attitude because it shifts blame from the perpetrator to someone else. It is the attitude that it is not your fault it is your parents. It is basically Freudian psychology. Peoples friends family and peers can make a great difference in a persons life but if a person is born without remorse, without fear and with little care of future repercussions how well can the individual be conditioned to follow the norms of society. All social influences are nothing more then feedback and no two individuals always respond the same to exactly the same stimuli.

 

[snfu73]

He should be made an example of. Given we've got over 6 billion on the planet now one less won't make any difference. Plus it would be educational. Can't fault education!

What the??? I don't think frying anyone sets an example. The top ten states for crime all happen to have the death penalty. It ain't detering...it's just showing how completely brutal mankind can be. Besides, instead of looking at WHAT he has done, we should look at WHY he has done it...and see what can be done about the situation. Besides, I think this is an EXTREME case that you have dug up here.

 

[tamarin]

Sparrow, there's been speculation for some time now on the existence of a "crime gene." The Genome Project has spurred this investigation and many, many others.
Snfu, of course, it's extreme. I do know the act of breaking into a home is akin to most investigators as emotional rape. If the lad's a 'rapist,' what good is he? That's putting it starkly. He may change over the years but will his victims? I'm really not too concerned about his welfare. Cold bugger that I am.