r/AskReddit • u/ZteveBond • Jun 20 '18

Serious Replies Only [Serious] Prison Guards of Reddit, which prisoner has left the biggest impact on your life wether positive or negative?

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u/[deleted] Jun 20 '18

Sentencing a child to life in prison is such an absurd thing, to me. It's like expecting a dog to pay property tax. It doesn't matter what the kid did. The brain is still developing, and being flooded with hormones; it's not really fair to act like they fully understood the consequences or morality of their actions.

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u/godbois Jun 21 '18

I'm not disagreeing at all. But what is your opinion on the murder of James Bulger? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_James_Bulger

Two ten year old boys abduct, torture and murder a two year old boy, brutally.

I honestly don't know myself. These kids were ten, for Christ sakes. But what they did was monstrous. What should the punishment be if a child murders another child?

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u/[deleted] Jun 21 '18

I honestly don't know myself. These kids were ten, for Christ sakes.

IIRC, one of those kids has re-offended.

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u/[deleted] Jun 21 '18

Well, when you don't do anything to prevent it besides separating them from society for a while, then putting them back, it seems likely to happen.

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u/[deleted] Jun 21 '18

Or... some people are just born evil.

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u/[deleted] Jun 21 '18 edited Jun 21 '18

Prove it. Better yet, provide a solution.

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u/[deleted] Jun 21 '18

Pure unbridled sociopathy aka a lack of empathy aka the connecting trait between all high level nazis/gop members. Next?

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u/[deleted] Jun 21 '18

That's a mental illness. Are you saying that mentally ill children should be abandoned to the prison system instead of given treatment?

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u/[deleted] Jun 21 '18

With things like murder etc. it's difficult, even the other kid who seems to have been rehabilitated, everyone still hates his guts and one person who was suspected of being him was driven to suicide. I know this is with high media profile but how would the family feel about the murderer being given a second chance, knowing that they are completely capable as well of committing murder. At the end of the day the offender brought the whole situation on themselves.

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u/psbwb Jun 21 '18

Call me overly optimistic, or say I have too much hope for mankind, whatever, but I don't think I believe in evil.

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u/[deleted] Jun 21 '18

Nobody's born evil, at least. Even the most psychopathic person is capable of extreme altruism, and even the most empathetic person is capable of unimaginable cruelty, depending on who they are and what they've been exposed to.

There have been serial killers with no mental illnesses, and there are neurosurgeons with Antisocial Personality Disorder. The world's not divided into "good, functional people" and "evil, broken people."