Over the weekend, twenty-two year old Jared Lee Loughner shot and killed six people while injuring thirteen more (including Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords). While Loughner faces federal murder and attempt murder charges, his defense lawyer plans to avoid a prison sentence with an insanity plea. The lawyer points to Loughner's history, when he attacked the Pima Community College with disturbing videos pertaining to mind control. He was suspended and advised to take a mental health evaluation. Both the prosecution and the defense will look into Loughner's Myspace page for evidence. On his page, he listed "The Communist Manifesto" and "Mein Kampf" among his favorite books. In addition, he also left posts such as "Good-bye, Friends" and "Dear friends, please don't be mad at me." If found guilty, Loughner will face the death penalty; if the insanity plea works, however, he will be sent to a mental hospital until he recovers. Personally, I think that the Myspace posts show that Loughner knew what he was doing and the possible consequences of his actions. What do you guys think? Does Loughner stand a chance with such a defense? Should someone who shot and killed so many innocent people be given an opportunity to avoid prison altogether?
6 comments:
I don't think that someone who committed such a crime should get off a prison sentence. I think he deserves it because I believe that he knew what he was doing when he shot these individuals. I hope he does receive the death penalty because he took the lives of innocent people and hurt the thirteen others, some who are still fighting for their lives. Also, he has caused great devastation to all of the victims' families, and therefore should get the death penalty. To this day, I still don't understand why there's so much violence and hatred still among the human race? As if the acts in history don't already show us the consequences to the actions taken by criminals such as this one, and that violence is never the answer!!!!!
It's a flaw in the prison system in the United States. No matter what people do they will always get a fair, diligent trial and be able to produce a defense that might get him out of jail. He does look a little nuts from the picture though... :D
To be fair, none of us really know what goes on in the mind of a schizophrenic. Moral responsibility is a difficult thing to judge. We should generally err on the side of life. Regardless of what devastation this act has caused, it should probably be best to wait for the facts to come out before rushing to judgment.
While I don't believe in the death penalty, I think that he deserves at least some time in prision, maybe for life. Even if he was crazy, it is never acceptable to kill people.
Crazy or not crazy...to me that is just another reason to keep HIM in PRISON away from regular PEOPLE! I think that he should go into a mental institution where it's still prison sentence, however he is still able to get better (or somewhat better) mentally. It's more efficient and it makes more sense rather than erase a sentence altogether.
I think it's easy to look at this article and at this case and automatically be disgusted with him and his lawyer for trying to keep him out of jail. I know as soon as I read this headline and the first few lines of this post I jumped to conclusions and definitely was disgusted. But I think it's important to realize that he might actually be insane. To me, once I've thought about it, I realize that this is a sad thought - that an insane man who may not have been aware of or in control of his actions was not given the proper care or attention he needed, and as a result, his insanity led him to hurt others. Now, I'm not trying to say that what he did was okay, and I'm not trying to blame others for what he did. But I do think it's sad, if he is actually insane, that more was not done to help him. If he is found to be insane (and I keep saying this because I do not know if he is or not) then I am glad that he will go to an institution rather than being put to death. I would think it immensely sad for an insane person, who might not be capable of controlling themselves or knowing the difference between right and wrong, to be so cruelly punished.
Now, on the other hand, we don't yet know if he's insane or not. I think it will be hard for the court to judge his mental insanity, because I would assume that everyone who kills someone has something wrong with them. But I do think that if he is found mentally insane, then it is right for him to be put in an asylum, rather than being put to death.
I think we are all outraged by this title and jump to the thoughts that justice must be upheld and killers should never go free. But to me, it's a little more complicated than that. I agree with others, that violence is never the answer, but I feel that the insane should not be put to death and should be taught the ways of right and wrong.
-Alice Bebbington
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