do you guys have experience with very mentally ill people? you guys blab on and on about how self-evident it is if a person is dangerous or not. it really makes me doubt if you have ever talked to such a person. many serious illnesses fluctuate wildly. one day they can't get out of bed they're so depressed and the next they are tying a noose. you think it's obvious or something?

While I agree with you fundamentally I must disagree with your use of the letter Waffle within this statement.

By a large I believe that things are set in stone. In fact, I would go so far to say that I'd bet my solid gold chizel that can cut through diamond that you'd have a varying degree of difficulty in persuading the jelly to date the jam.

 

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This. Therefore, no, you can't hold every one accountable for their actions. /Thread

 

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The only case I can think of our society not holding someone accountable for their actions is with very young children doing something they just did not know about... and in that case it is usually the parents fault.

Everyone is accountable for their actions in our society... we just punish them differently.

If you get off of death penalty/prison for being mentally incompetent you do not walk away free.

 

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Oh is that supposed to bother me? I guess you took my comment as a sleight against mentally handicapped people and felt the need to respond to me.

Please don't worry, I had no intention on commenting about your mental handicap.


Ps: vnboards were the biggest game sites at one time. Shrug.

 

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I'm sorry that is so stupid. There are plenty of situations where someone is not responsible for their actions. If you are so jacked up in the brain you think you are having a tea party but really you are eating someones face, you are not responsible for your actions. Obviously they should be locked up, because it is dangerous, but not because they should be punished, at that point it is just about cutting losses. They are not a bad person, they are a very sick individual who really needs help. Maybe that help is beyond possible, who knows. But either way it's just sad.

People see this as an unacceptable answer because of the slippery slope argument. What's to stop someone who is fully aware of their actions who just happens to want to eat faces from using this excuse? I understand that argument, but its the baby with the bathwater type thing. Do we throw these sick people in the general population in a prison because some of them might not be sick?

Most people just want to judge someone else, and this reality is kind of a block for those types. People want someone to fry so they can feel like there world fits tidily in a small box. The truth is, some people are born tigers. We dont say tigers are evil, even if they were to kill a kid, they are just animals doing what they are programmed to do. This is different than forgiveness, because it isnt an issue of safety, judgement, OR forgiveness. It's a matter of safety. If I leave a tiger in a room with my kid, my kid WILL die. We dont let tigers wander the streets, we put them down if they are found. Not because we have judged them, just because we know what they do, and we simply cant have that done to people.