🚀 go-pugleaf

donb@netcom.com (Don Baldwin) writes:
>I just don't buy that.  People HAVE to take responsibility for their
>lives/acts!  when california was getting ready to execute Harris last
>year, people were saying that he was a victim of society and a violent
>alcoholic of a father.

	I couldn't agree more. After a long time it finally dawned on
me that it's completely irrelevant whether the criminal is a victim
of society, or an abused child, or whatever. The fundamental distinction
between an *explanation* and an *excuse* has been blurred. In other
words, if everyone thinks I am a jerk, and I *explain* that my
behavior is a result of my having a small radio device implanted in
my brain, that is not *necessarily* an excuse. Explanations of criminal
behavior need to be taken into account when figuring out how to deal
with it, but I don't think that it should make a difference in the
end. If a person is unpredictable, and a danger to society, people
shouldn't have to share a planet with them.

	If all individuals who were convicted of a *second* offense
involving use of weapons in wounding or killing someone were executed
within 48 hours of sentencing, I suspect that we'd see a sharper drop
in gun-related killings than if we banned all gun ownership.

	Unfortunately, we're more likely to get the latter.

	Unlike some readers of this group, I do believe that gun control
would reduce gun related crime. It might even reduce it enough to make
it worth attempting. But I'd rather see violent criminals killed quickly
and painlessly, since that's the cheapest way of disposing of them.

mjr.