# Locking up Superman **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [March 22, 2006, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/locking-up-superman/349451 "2006-03-22T17:09:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Love\_Rhombus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/love_rhombus/32/10694_2.png) [@Love\_Rhombus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Love_Rhombus)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2006, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/locking-up-superman/349451/1 "2006-03-22T17:09:46Z")
This popped into mind when I read my copy of Miracleman a few days ago: Let’s assume that you have a being who is immortal. H/she will not die or age as time goes on. If this being commited numerous acts of violence, and the prosecutor calls for life imprisonment, could the defense consider this cruel and unusual punishment? After all, if someone will live for 500 years, is it legal to lock them up for 500 years? There have been attempts to have sentences reduced if the person is very ill and will not survive their full term; would the flip side work? ---
**Author:** ![OneCentStamp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/13edae/32.png) [@OneCentStamp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OneCentStamp)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2006, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/locking-up-superman/349451/2 "2006-03-22T17:22:13Z")
That’s an interesting point. However, on the flip side, if you’re going to live forever, a 50 year sentence for murder is going to feel like I used to feel when Mom would send me to my room for an hour for swearing in the house. Not much of a deterrent. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2006, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/locking-up-superman/349451/3 "2006-03-22T19:01:28Z")
No, not really. Because Governments fall. Or change. Or alter policy. An Immortal would outlive the institution that imprisoned him. An endless parade of appeals, or annual petitions for pardons _would_ (eventually) succeed. What is 10,000 to 1 over the course of a year, is 100 to 1 over a century. In addition, there are things like General Pardons, reductions of sentences, etc. Heck, if it _was_ Superman, there would inevitably be an emergency that would _require_ his help. A reduction to “Time Served” for whupping up on Space Godzilla? Sure thing. ---
**Author:** ![Love\_Rhombus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/love_rhombus/32/10694_2.png) [@Love\_Rhombus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Love_Rhombus)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2006, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/locking-up-superman/349451/4 "2006-03-22T20:11:07Z")
But would the “cruel & unusual” line work to prevent a “life” sentence? After all, how long is that? ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2006, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/locking-up-superman/349451/5 "2006-03-22T20:17:46Z")
How would you even go about stopping Superman from having his way with fellow prisoners and even guards? ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2006, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/locking-up-superman/349451/6 "2006-03-22T21:03:25Z")
> [@Shagnasty](#): > > How would you even go about stopping Superman from having his way with fellow prisoners and even guards? Kryptonite jockstrap. ---
**Author:** ![pizzabrat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e9c0ed/32.png) [@pizzabrat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pizzabrat)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2006, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/locking-up-superman/349451/7 "2006-03-22T21:34:12Z")
Okay, but Superman isn’t immortal. Say Highlander. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2006, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/locking-up-superman/349451/8 "2006-03-22T22:01:17Z")
Eventually one of the other Immortals would break him loose, in order to kill him. “There can be only one.” _sigh_ If only the producers had thought that… ---
**Author:** ![aldiboronti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc348/32.png) [@aldiboronti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aldiboronti)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2006, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/locking-up-superman/349451/9 "2006-03-22T23:32:02Z")
Well, if we credit Christianity, the sinners among us will have their immortal souls suffering the pains of hellfire for eternity. If that doesn’t qualify as cruel and unusual punishment I don’t know what does. I pray to God every night that there’s no God! ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2006, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/locking-up-superman/349451/10 "2006-03-23T00:12:25Z")
Since this hypothetical question is more of a debate, let’s move it there. **samclem** GQ moderator ---
**Author:** ![photopat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e95f7d/32.png) [@photopat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/photopat)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2006, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/locking-up-superman/349451/11 "2006-03-23T03:06:26Z")
Huh. Years ago I thought of this very idea as part of the plot of a story. It went that a person who had been cursed with immortality could die but only if he was executed legally (magic, you know) and after several hundred or thousand years he started to get tired of living and set out to get himself killed. He was living in a country that had the death penalty so he committed several murders and was relaxing on death row when the death penalty law was overturned and he was instead given life without parole. Sort of an O. Henry ending there. I never really fleshed it out beyond that though. I always felt that such a sentence wouldn’t be eternal for no better reason than sooner or later people would start to wonder about “the guy in cell block K who’s been there for at least 50 years and still looks like a 30 year old. What’s up with him?” Sooner or later he’d get the death he wanted, would be released or turned over to the lab guys to see what’s keeping him alive. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2006, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/locking-up-superman/349451/12 "2006-03-23T14:15:41Z")
> [@photopat](#): > > Huh. Years ago I thought of this very idea as part of the plot of a story. It went that a person who had been cursed with immortality could die but only if he was executed legally (magic, you know) and after several hundred or thousand years he started to get tired of living and set out to get himself killed. He was living in a country that had the death penalty so he committed several murders and was relaxing on death row when the death penalty law was overturned and he was instead given life without parole. Sort of an O. Henry ending there. There is a Twilight Zone episode with a similar plot (“Escape Clause”). The guy sells his soul to the devil in return for immortality, except that the electric chair won’t kill him either. I tend to agree with previous posters - Mr. Immortal can simply wait out the society. After a couple of hundred years, all the witnesses and the family of his victims will die, as will their children. Then he can apply for clemency. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![Love\_Rhombus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/love_rhombus/32/10694_2.png) [@Love\_Rhombus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Love_Rhombus)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2006, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/locking-up-superman/349451/13 "2006-03-24T04:09:40Z")
A slight hijack to my own thread: how long IS a life sentence? Is there a regularly-used term of years? ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2006, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/locking-up-superman/349451/14 "2006-03-24T04:26:38Z")
well, in Canada, if you get a life sentence, it means that you will be under the control of Corrections Canada until you die. You’ll start out in a federal pen. Depending on the crime you have committed, you may be eligible for parole in between 10 to 25 years. Once you are eligible for parole, you have to persuade the Parole Board to grant you parole - onus is on you to demonstrate that you should be granted parole. Even if you make parole, you are still subject to Corrections Canada’s control and supervision. If you breach parole, you can be re-jugged automatically, without being convicted of an additional crime, since you’re always a serving convict. ---
**Author:** ![Love\_Rhombus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/love_rhombus/32/10694_2.png) [@Love\_Rhombus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Love_Rhombus)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2006, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/locking-up-superman/349451/15 "2006-03-24T21:16:18Z")
Hmm…do you have people who are sentenced to consecutive life sentences? ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2006, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/locking-up-superman/349451/16 "2006-03-25T04:01:03Z")
no, we don’t have conecutive life sentences, but your period of parole ineligibilty runs from the date of conviction. So if you’re serving a life sentence and commit another murder, it doesn’t matter how close you were to parole eligibility on the first one - you can’t apply for parole until you’ve satisfied the parole ineligibility on the second charge. Parole ineligibility for first degree murder is 25 years, although a jury can subsequently reduce it to between 15 and 25 years. Parole ineligibilty for second degree murder is between 10 and 25 years, if I remember correctly, but if you are convicted of an additional second degree while serving time for second degree, it’s an automatic 25 years ineligibilty on the second conviction. I’m involved on the margins of one such case now.