chronovore | (no subject)

When someones write something like this:

"For example, my fantasies are just getting weirder and weirder. Dangerously weird (...) If people knew the kinds of things I think about anymore, I'd probably be locked away. No probably about it, I know I would be."

and then does something like this, I lose all tolerance for a system that allows for "not-guilty by reason of insanity" pleas. This guy killed a girl, probably in part because he chose not to take his anti-depression meds. When one has consciously acknowledged that one's mind is operating dangerously outside the normal range, and in this case even requires medicine to regulate it, it is time to seek additional help and guidance. Good god.

I know I have a lot of friends who are against the death penalty, but to me this monster seems to justify it single-handedly.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

In a poorly titled but fascinating book, Mind Hunter, John Douglas talks about his groundbreaking work in incorporating profiling serial killers for the FBI. One major difference between regular psychological practice and using psychology to catch criminals (and to maintain their incarceration through parole denial) is that merely mentally unhealthy people want to recover. However, killers do not want to get better, they simply don't want to be caught, and once caught they want to get out. Their motivation is entirely different from someone who is sick; they will game the system because they see the rules and understand the parameters of their incarceration, but cannot relate to society as a whole or relate to other humans as beings with worth similar to their own.

All this as a longwinded way of saying, when we catch a serial killer, Douglas believes that there is really only one way to make certain that they are not given a chance to repeat their crimes. That solution is not to reform them, but to put them to death.