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| -Lurid Crime Tales- |
| In Defense of Flogging |
| 2011-04-26 |
| If you were sentenced to five years in prison but had the option of receiving lashes instead, what would you choose? You would probably pick flogging. Wouldn't we all? I propose we give convicts the choice of the lash at the rate of two lashes per year of incarceration. One cannot reasonably argue that merely offering this choice is somehow cruel, especially when the status quo of incarceration remains an option. Prison means losing a part of your life and everything you care for. Compared with this, flogging is just a few very painful strokes on the backside. And it's over in a few minutes. |
| Posted by:Nimble Spemble |
| #11 FWIW, Mrs. Bobby served a few years in Texas probabtion and observed that 10-15% had made a mistake, followed all the rules and requirements of probation, and would never be back. 85% were habitual offenders, in her opinion. Flogging would just lead to 'floggers elbow'. |
| Posted by: Bobby 2011-04-26 23:36 |
| #10 I don't mind bringing back corporal punishment for petty offenses, say a first arrest for shoplifting or first offense for drunk driving. But I wouldn't use it in lieu of any jail sentence longer than one year. The reason is that most first offenses of this sort that are charged as adults tends to be people who are fairly young. Getting a few lashes on the steps of the county court house in public does several things to the brain. It might well dissuade one from a further life of crime. But if it doesn't work that first time, I wouldn't favor using it again. At that point one should go to jail. The thing about corporal punishment of that sort is that there is no way to negotiate your way out of pain. And once administered it is over and done with. Prison guard unions hardest hit. I might also favor use of it inside prisons for minor offenses but it would have to be very tightly controlled so guards don't become abusive. Someone caught with contraband, for example, might expect a few lashes. There would be an interesting case to be made |
| Posted by: crosspatch 2011-04-26 22:14 |
| #9 A major use of imprisonment is: exclusion of the offender from the community that they harmed. As for the parlor question: i suppose I would take the lashes, as long as there would be no permanent scarring. |
| Posted by: Elmomoter Sforza8466 2011-04-26 20:09 |
| #8 If we're reviving old punishments, I vote for murderers, rapists and kidnappers to be broken on the wheel and allowed to die of exposure. The record is 4 days. |
| Posted by: Silentbrick 2011-04-26 19:30 |
| #7 In Singapore you get flogging and jail time. It's an additional punishment, not an alternative. Not too much recidivism there. |
| Posted by: phil_b 2011-04-26 19:02 |
| #6 The plan has zero merit. The purpose of jail is to separate civilised society from those in jail. |
| Posted by: Bright Pebbles 2011-04-26 18:28 |
| #5 An interesting idea - but people can endure pain. Only two lashes per year of sentence is really not much - if you have a ten year sentence, that is only twenty lashes. Unless the flogging is done with a cat of nine tails with iron balls, you would probably recover quickly. And if you were allowed to be dosed with pain killers ahead of time, and treated with antibiotics right away afterward, you would hardly even notice it. Besides, how many lashes do you get if you are sentenced to life? Would it depend on how old you are, and what your life expectancy is? Of course, if the flogging were two lashes per month of jail time, and you weren't allowed to have pain killers before or after the flogging, the plan might have more merit. |
| Posted by: Rambler in Virginia 2011-04-26 17:42 |
| #4 Plus the over-worked flogger wouldn't have to risk flogger's elbow, Fi. |
| Posted by: Pollyandrew 2011-04-26 16:38 |
| #3 A rapid, affordable and humane way to bring condemned criminals to justice who have committed capital offenses without the prolonged burden and cost on society of imprisonment is beheading by guillotine. You can behead 75 murderers, rapists, or pedophiles in 90 minutes. For more information about the efficiency and history of the guillotine, check out http://www.capitalpunishmentuk.org/guillotine.html |
| Posted by: Fi 2011-04-26 15:06 |
| #2 No thanks. If someone kills somebody and gets 50 lashes instead of 25 yrs I won't be impressed. I'd prefer they be bubba's b*tch for 2 and a half decades. |
| Posted by: Chemist 2011-04-26 12:10 |
| #1 We also gave up literally branding thieves et al a good while ago. Other than appearing in public without a shirt to display for the world your personal record, it might help in dating asking your companion to see your backside just for a quick check. Then again, there is that tendency for girls to go for 'bad boys'. It might start a trend. |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2011-04-26 08:50 |