Death Penalty and Deterring Crime

[jaguar]

I have to agree with sycamore, but yes, it does tend to make people go insane, oddly enough but goddamn, i doubt any of those people are going to be released again anyway.
Supermax's are for people who need to be kept a long way from any other human life, they aren't getting out into the public again in most cases, i think that’s the best substitute for the death penalty, which really, is too light, just think, I can kill 168 people for my cause, then be put painlessly to sleep after incredible media attention

As for school killings, i think they are simply of product of a very fucked up generation which I’m member of, caused by a very fucked up society. While i am not even going to suggest justifying those very sick individuals at columbine (I find arguments like ‘temporary insanity sickening, people have to take responsibility for their actions and a lot of things would be solved, like stupid legal cases) and others i have seen first hand how the system tends to handle those kids with problems, drug em up, dump them in a center for a while and they'll be fine, all it does it fuck them up further DRUGS DO NOT SOLVE PHYCOLOGICAL PROBLEMS IN KIDS when you've been abused by your parents, ostracized by your peers, ignored by your teachers, teased, bullied and abused its too bloody late in allot of cases, i know kids who want to 'pull a columbine' thank god they can't get guns, they all have been directed to overworked physiologists who give them perceptions and that’s it. Time to tackle the SOCIOECONOMIC causes for these things, coz its time to face the ugly truth that these kids are the sons of the problem in society, the growing poverty gap, apathy, disillusionment, society has stopped caring, and this is what happens. I know the ‘these were just normal kids we didn’t see it coming’ argument, and sorry, but its bullshit, if you don’t notice you kids doing these things, or multiple guns and bombs in there rooms you’ve got to stop working the 12 hours days and maybe just spend a millionth of your day with them. I personally spend buggar all time with my mum (split up parents) but I spend enough that she knows who I am at least…
</rant>

[elSicomoro]

There is one thing to note about these school killings (and I or someone else may have mentioned it before): They have all happened in rural areas or in suburbs. And they have all been committed by whites (at least to my recollection...don't remember the San Diego case). Had this happened in, say Philadelphia, people would have probably just said, "See...look what happens in inner city schools." But had this happened in, say Warminster (a suburb), people would have been shocked and outraged: "How can this happen in our community?" In general, it seems that things don't tend to get SERIOUS attention until they occur in the suburbs--drug use/abuse, shootings, etc.

At the same time, no one has seemed to come up with the WHY of all this. And we may never know. In the case of Columbine, I think the kids were simply outsiders and didn't have a better way within themselves to deal with it. We can't point the finger at Marilyn Manson or KMFDM. And I don't think it's completely fair to point the finger at parents...and this applied to ANY type of crime. There are simply some people in this world that are BAD. There are also some kids that are simply hard-headed and tend to follow rather than lead. There are a ton of factors involved in all of this...and all too quickly, people want to blame one thing--in the case of Columbine, it was Marilyn Manson first, then the parents were under the microscope. As much as people may think I'm insane, those two shooters were victims too, in their own way.

I was very fortunate that I had a loving mother and stepfather, a roof over my head, and Catholic schooling. I am also fortunate that I made the right choices as a teenager (other than occasional alcohol and drug use...but that's another story ;-) ). I can't make people do anything, but I always try to stress positivity to the younger generation...I hope it has sank in in some way. I hope my good example has made an impression on my 18-year old brother, who seems to be on the right path.

[jaguar]

They were victims, victims of an intolerant uncaring society. Pardon the rant before i meant to add </rant> but i forgot. I also agree blaming things like music and culture is just stupid, its politicians looking for scapegoats, the music is shaped by the culture as much as the culture is shaped by the music, there are allot of angry kids out there. I listen to the same bands, linkin park copped allot of crap for example, but I’m not about to go and shoot anyone (well, maybe my IT teacher but that’s another story).

(As you can tell this is one of my hobby horses)