Quote Originally Posted by MMI View Post
The taxpayer won't notice the expense. If the Austrians choose to imprison their criminals rather than murder them, then that is their choice: the civilised choice.
It's amazing how many people say that it's civilized simply because it agrees with their own beliefs.

If a man is insane, it is inhuman to punish him as if he were sane. I admit we don't know whether he is or not yet, but that is part of his defence and we should not prejudge.
I would find it difficult to believe that an insane person could plan, execute and conceal such an elaborate setup so well. And yet someone who would perpetrate this kind of abomination must, by definition, be insane!

No, the question for the prosecution, and for the people of Austria, is whether or not this creature knew he was doing something wrong. Clearly the answer must be yes, or he would not have tried to conceal it.

The insane are not simply to be liquidated when they can be looked after. Hitler tried that solution, and nobody thought he had hit on the right idea, did they?
If the Nazi's had confined their killings to just the insane it's doubtful that the rest of the world would have gotten too excited about it. And for some forms of insanity I would agree, treatment and understanding are more "humane" than simple execution. But there are some people who, though perhaps clinically insane, are so dangerous, so evil, that they should not be allowed even the possibility of returning to society. Sometimes, just sometimes, that bullet through the brain is the best way to insure the safety of innocent people. All it would take would be for some "expert" to come out in a year or two and claim that the person is cured, and lo and behold he's back on the streets.

In this case, however, the man is not a threat to society in general. The only threat he represents is to his own family, and it's doubtful he will ever again have contact with them. A lifetime of solitary confinement would, in this case, be a more fit punishment, more suited to the crime. My only regret would be that he's not likely to last for 24 years in prison.