Teen Killers Sentenced as Adults

[Chippiewill]

The issue of somebody being of sound mind is that; in knowing what they did to be against the law and being responsible for their actions. A person with depression for example may contemplate suicide, but are responsible for his/her actions if they decide to take that route (due to the depression they are experiencing). Now obviously with a mental illness such as alzheimers disease for example you cannot put it down to the person as they are not of sound mind, they are not in control.

If someone has been brought up to believe that murder is right then it should be something that people should strive to resolve, not to dispose of. Would you really sentence someone to death if you could make it so that they wouldn't murder again and that they know that they shouldn't, what use is it to sentence someone to death if they aren't going to commit the crime again? Justice?

The death sentence achieves only three things:

- Prevents them from causing harm again
- It is a sense of 'Justice' to the victims
- It is a deterrent

Treatment of a murderer (Whether it is a psychological issue or a beliefs issue) achieves two things:

- Prevents them from causing harm again
- It saves the life of the murderer

Whilst it is not a deterrent, a deterrent would not be (sufficiently) effective on these people in the first place, and you can always imprison the person afterwards as a reassurance that people view it as a deterrent. And you really shouldn't be killing the murderer just so the victims feel a little bit better either. If they cannot be treated then the only harm is that they will be is a small drain on the tax payer for solitary confinement in comparison to the massive drain that petty crime is anyway.