Oscar Pistorius

[Johnny75]

For an effective society, are we solely looking to punish offenders? Or should we include rehabilitation as part of that process?
Just locking em up & throwing away the key does little more than cost money.

I don't think anybody is arguing that we shouldn't rehabilitate, my question was why shouldn't he be punished? Do you think he shouldn't be punished?

 

[Toon Wolf]

Jail is a fitting punishment in order to satisy the need for vegeance. I do think making offenders make amends with the victims and their families in some way and face up to the real consequences of their actions is more likely to make most criminals think again. I say most because there inevitably a proportion of sociopaths who are completely incapable of feelings of guilt or remorse who probably need to be just be locked up for as long as possible.

 

[Paddingtonwolf]

rehabiliation v retribution has always been a fascinating social argument within criminology going back to the days of Bentham. What is a prison for, has to be the question.

The measure of success in balancing the two has to be in the level of recidivism in released convicts who have served their sentence I guess, taking into account the level of sociopaths that you mention. Plus you would need to balance having a level of deterrent to try and prevent certain crimes being tempting to the potential criminal.

 

[Toon Wolf]

Restorative justice (I think that's the term but correct me if I'm wrong) where criminals are confronted by their victims is supposedly very effective at deterring criminals from re offending. I'm sure that isn't necessarily the case for all crimes, for instance I can't imagine a rape victim would want to spend time discussing the impact of the crime on their life, but in many cases it has proven effective I believe.

 

[EdgeOfTheAlps]

The mere suggestion of not putting a murder behind bars is ludicrous - regardless of whether the murderer actually meant to kill the victim or not. Restorative justice has it's place for supposedly minor offenses, I can't imagine the families of murder victims would be too happy being confronted by the murderer even if they are there to apologise.

 

[MARKakaJIM]

The mere suggestion of not putting a murder behind bars is ludicrous - regardless of whether the murderer actually meant to kill the victim or not. Restorative justice has it's place for supposedly minor offenses, I can't imagine the families of murder victims would be too happy being confronted by the murderer even if they are there to apologise.

I think that is pretty important, it actually defines whether or not they're a murderer.

 

[NorwayFB]

For an effective society, are we solely looking to punish offenders?

Yes.

Or should we include rehabilitation as part of that process?

No.

Just locking em up & throwing away the key does little more than cost money.

They'd need somewhere to sleep.

 

[pavlosmacwolf]

Frankly with the cushy number prison is today, it may seem rather pointless, but if Reeva was my daughter, i wouldn't think it would be too wise of Oscar to pop round and apologise.

1 unlucky shot after a shouted warning, ok maybe, four shots, no warning? you must be kidding, he knew what he was doing even if he thought there was a burglar in the bog.

My first instinct upon grabbing the gun would be to have gone to the bed and told the missus to hide in the wardrobe, and not come out until i tell her whatever she hears, mind you finding her not there and hearing a noise in the bathroom, would at least have solicited a question from outside the door. Tex Pitsourius?, not a peep.

The whole thing stinks.

 

[Penk Wolf]

It's fair enough people think a person should be punished for a crime, particularly one as bad as this. But is prison the answer? Do I think Pistorius needs to be kept off the street as he is dangerous? No. Do I think a life in prison will reform him? No I think he has already reformed.

If he hadn't had previous you might have a point......

 

[EdgeOfTheAlps]

I think that is pretty important, it actually defines whether or not they're a murderer.

I suspect most murders are committed by those who wanted to cause harm but didn't actually intend to kill, especially domestics. It still ends up as murder or manslaughter

 

[Paddingtonwolf]

Murder and manslaughter are very different things.

Murder you need an intention to kill or cause GBH. Manslaughter you don't.

 

[Paddingtonwolf]

Prosecution appeal both verdict and sentence. This will now drag on for a while, although they need the appeal heard before Pistorius gets out of jail, one would imagine

 

[Jolemai]

So, what exactly is going to satisfy the prosecution?

 

[Paddingtonwolf]

Murder conviction by the look of it.

 

[MARKakaJIM]

Seems fair enough. Can't believe firing four shots into an enclosed space, whilst using ammunition designed to cause more damage wasn't seen as a clear enough sign of intent to kill someone, i mean who you ever have thought that could possibly kill whoever was behind the door?!

 

[Penk Wolf]

Seems fair enough. Can't believe firing four shots into an enclosed space, whilst using ammunition designed to cause more damage wasn't seen as a clear enough sign of intent to kill someone, i mean who you ever have thought that could possibly kill whoever was behind the door?!

Can't you shoot a burglar in your house in South Africa?

 

[Lupo]

Best to ensure your absent girlfriend isn't hiding behind the door before firing your gun

 

[MARKakaJIM]

Can't you shoot a burglar in your house in South Africa?

Then surely the only charge that could've been held against him would be the premeditated murder of his girlfriend? Why is it possible for him to be found guilty of manslaughter but not murder if you're allowed to shoot a burglar?

The way the judge worded the not guilty verdict on the murder charge was that there was no way Pistorius could've foresaw what would happen after he fired those shots, that's just complete and utter bullshit, if you fire four shots into a small space when you've got a pretty good idea someone is in there then i think it's pretty easy to imagine there's a chance you're going to kill them.

 

[Penk Wolf]

I haven't really followed it but I'd guess that it could only be manslaughter as he thought he was shooting a burglar and not his girlfriend, so he didn't intend on murdering his girlfriend, he killed her by an accident.

 

[FrankMunro-371]

Why didn't the prosecution appeal after he was cleared of murder? Why wait all this time?