is an update on the case of Josef Fritzl, the guy who locked his daughter in a cellar for 24 years, fathering a number of children with her.
It seems the little guy dreamed up his scheme while in prison (for 18 months) for a knife-point rape. He figured if he locked up his daughter he could do the Mr Hyde thing while living the whole Doctor Jeckle lifestyle topside.
Of course the reason he did all this is obvious.
His family was dysfunctional. His mother mistreated him.
The only bright spot in this is that at least he was not an English language instructor.
I swear, I get all righteous and argue against the death penalty, but then someone comes along so darn evil that he cannot be allowed to live.
Huh, I don’t feel that just because an example is highly emotive and outrageous it obliterates the many, many reasons why the death penalty is immoral and untenable. Funny thing. It’s almost like…people often feel strong emotions, but that’s why we base our modern ethical system off intellectual consideration rather than raw feeling?
My arguement in favor of the death penalty is strictly pragmatic. I have no moral problem with it, but in some cases it is not worth the expense. This is one of those cases. I do not believe Weiner Fritzl should get death for one simple reason: he will die before it becomes a cost advantage. If he were in his 30s, I’d say go ahead and execute him…since 50 years or so in max security prison would be costly. But given his age, he will likely die before the appeals process is over, so it’s a complete waste of money.
But of course this arguement is merely for sport since Austria doesn’t have the death penalty anyway.
We had a thread no too long ago about this very phenomenon, something along the lines of “If you’re not in favor of the death penalty except for specific circumstances, then you’re for the death penalty.”
As for me, I just want to know what the hell the (RO) I keep seeing means.
To paraphrase Penn Gillette " If Google was responsible for running the death penalty, I would be OK with it. Google doesn’t seem to fuck up very much."
There are a lot of folks that richly deserve to punted off the face of the earth (like this jackoff, and the jackoff’s wife, who allowed her daughter to be held in a celler as a sex slave for 24 years), but governments are too corrupt\incompetent to find the right folks on any consistant basis.
I’m actually for the death penalty anyway, so I have no problem saying guys like this should be put down.
Recreational Outrage. It indicates that you’re pissed about something that doesn’t have anything to do with your life and that you have no real stake in the outcome.
Recreational outrage. There was a very minor kerfluffle in the Pit about it at one point, as some folks were getting annoyed by people constantly posting horrific news stories, at which everyone would then gather around to tsk about the awfulness of it all. So it has become something of a polite convention to label such stories with an RO, so that those who find such things irritating can avoid them.
This was originally discussed on these boards here. There is a link in that thread which discusses some of the lengths he went to so that he could conceal this deception. The wiki page also has good informaiton on this.
Basically, for those who do not wish to slog through the links, he explained the appearances of the additional children by stating that the daughter who disappeared had, in fact, run away, and that she was leaving the children that she mothered on his doorstep to take care of them.
At the very least, it makes a case for giving rapists more than 18 months in prison and making serial rape/kidnapping/false imprisonment/slavery worthy of a sentence longer than 20 years.
"An investigation has been launched into the failings of police and social services in the case of a father who made his two daughters pregnant 19 times during almost 30 years of rape and physical abuse.
The man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was given 25 life sentences yesterday. He will serve a minimum of 19 years and six months in prison."
Disgusting, yes. But you wont see much ‘hang him’ outcry in Britain. The state killing people to save money doesnt seem like a particularly good plan to me.
I disagree. Go read some of the comments on the “Baby P” case that are online (facebook, the sun, daily mail etc). Compare with the Maxine Carr / Ian Huntley case, or James Bulger.
It tends only to be certain cases that trigger it, but the british public in full “string-'em-up” roar can be pretty terrifying.
Youre not supposed to Sailboat. I sometimes think its there just for the tabloids !
Actually , i think its just a legal statement of when the prisoner is allowed to 1st ask for parole.
The parole board will then look at his notes, see the small problem of his 25 life sentances, and [del]release[/del] deny him parole.
My reasoning for the death penalty is simple. We put down vicious dogs, so we should put down vicious people.
Sad to say but there really are people that are just pure evil with no redeeming qualities at all. They serve no purpose, and they are a risk to society as a whole that we do not need.
Hell there’s a reason I like most animals better then people…
Fair point Wallenstein ( good to see another Brit on the SDMB ! ), but its hardly an ongoing pressure from lobby groups. I really cant see any political party even daring to mention this as a policy change.
As you say it rears its head only when there is a very big, emotional case, which the media decides to run with. Laws should not me made by emotional people. They are too important.