peter tobin murderer

[meredith101]

what makes someone do something like that? Was he made that way or did something really bad happen to him? Some people say they are 'evil', this expression holds little meaning for me, little explanatory value.

[Booldawg]

'to build or destroy - only you decide which joy'. I forget where I heard these song lyrics but it suggests to me alot about human nature. Regardless of who you are or what you've been through, genetically or from a previous life experience its up to you to decide what you do with that. eg someone who has been abused as a child can either become the abuser or use their experiences in life to help others. I guess the follow-on question from this is 'so what makes them decide?' Who knows? maybe forces of good and evil are at play deep underneath the fragility of mankind.

[meredith101]

bloody hell. I've read 2500 replies on answerbank but I think that's the first one I've saved to my hard drive. wow. Nicely put.

[Bewlay Bros]

Looking at the wider picture of nature/nurture deebate within the criminal fraternity, it throws more questions than answers.

Firstly, I want most criminals too hang, especially kiddy fiddlers and murderers. However, I also believe that many sickos are born bad.

In essence, that means I want to see somebody hanged for a sickness. That would be like punishing the blind or spastics for merely being born that way. This, naturally, is an abhorrent idea.

So.................my view. I follow the above insofaras we all have free will (unless clinically mad, in which case they are institutionalised in a looney bin, as opposed to prison). Therefore a criminal decides his actions.

I do not buy all the weepy left wing woolley answers about drug users, for example. "They live on the streets, their lives are worthless, blah blah blah". They choose to inject drugs, society or even mental instability can not inject can it? It's their own free will. In the same way, Peter Tobin murdered. Society can not be held responsible for such actions, like marxists want us to believe.

I can further liken the simple burglarly. A person who needs drugs MAY burgle a house to feed his foul addiction. But why do a high percentage of them trash the place as well? Why would they steal war medals and jewellry clearly of a sentimental value when equally priced things are available? Why, because they are born bad. Simple as that.

The drug-addled burglar who steals DVDs and CD's etc, are still scum but at least they have some degree of conscience.

As for Tobin. The man was born bad which probably manifested itself through a degree of bad luck in life. He deserves to hang, and may the noose snap half way through, thus enlongating his sufferring.

[aims1202]

I read a book called 'Why love matters, how affection shapes a baby's brain.' If a baby or child experiences serious abuse or neglect it actually affects the way their brain develops and grows. The younger a child is, the nature of the abuse and the longer the abuse happens for the more the brain is affected. And affected in different ways.
The book does explain thought that there are serial murderers who's brains have not developed in the same way as normal development. There are also people who suffer from mental illness and others problems as a result of this happening to them in childhood.
I am in no way excusing those who commit terrible crimes such as this and those who suffer abuse as children do not always go onto do such things. But its an interesting book and makes you realise just how important those first years are and how we should do everything we can to help and support mothers who need it early on.

[meredith101]

I used to believe in freewill, I grew up in that kind of religious culture, you accepted it as much as the idea that your eyes were the organs of sight. I remember bringing it up with someone who is a professional neuroscientist and he looked at me like I was mad. He looks at brains from a neurocognitive perspective (like computer processing), and the idea of there being a 'free will' component in any of this has just no evidence in the science to support it. We do not know everything about the brain, but after years of disection and scanning, we just cannot find a component or substrate that is free from its inputs or detached from what they decide for it. Despite this, so many constructs of society and social institutions exist on the assumption that humans just do freely decide to choose between actions.
Anyway, as far as I can see the importance of attributing actions to a free choice rather than a type of 'mental abnormality' is that the former leaves little room for psychological intervention, which may be the only hope of properly protecting ourselves from the likes of Tobin, at least with a criminal justice system that we have at the moment. Tobin was caught in the 90's, given 14 years, served 10, and released. He was punished for doing evil and served his time. Yet a very cognitive/psychology weighted analysis would ask at his release 'has anything really changed in the mental design of this individual to make him less likely to offend'? To which the answer is pretty obviously 'no'.
I personally don't subscribe to the hanging approach to the likes of Tobin. In fact, sometimes I wonder if someone sat him down after the first set of incidents and said 'LOOK,

[meredith101]

WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?', some answers might have been forthcoming that may have saved future lives. My guess is that he was sexually and physically abused and emerged into adulthood with a completely distorted view of humans and human relationships. And this was probably never addressed as a problem in him.
I think the guy is scum and his actions are those of a monster: at the same time I think he has value as a human being just for being a human being, irrespective of his actions.

[Quinlad]

Bewlay - MOST criminals should be hanged? Talk me through that, if you would.

Just so we can can get an idea of numbers, the appeal process and which crimes should be deemed capital offences.

[meredith101]

shoplifting and DVD piracy would be reduced pretty sharply, you must admit. I'd like to see the notice on 'Boots': "Shoplifters will be prosecuted and hanged".

[wolf63]

I can understand somebody stealing to gain financially or killing somebody they dislike. Both crimes and the person must be punished. But there are so many evil people going around - people who would hurt or kill you for no reason at all. They steal because they want to.

We are all shaped by our childhood - things that happen in our lives make us who we are. Yet most of us just get on with it and try and live good lives and contribute something back to the world.

We may never understand the workings of an evil mind. But when they are sent to prison they should stay there - not released after a pathetically short sentence.

[Bewlay Bros]

Quinlad

"Most criminals should be hanged"

You are struggling with such an easy statement???

From my brain, not a dictionary.

1) MOST......nearly all, the vast majority
2) CRIMINALS.......illegal types, those who break the law set in statute by the Queen, or common law. Felons, deviants.
3) SHOULD BE......an appropriate action to next verb.......
4) HANGED......some say, not incorrectly, HUNG. A form of execution whereby the CRIMINAL (see above 2) SHOULD BE (see above 3) placed on a gallow with a rope (often called noose) around his neck. The floor is then taken away (like a pantomine trap-door) and the CRIMINAL (see above 2) will fall. During this process the rope with a firm and particular knot with rigidfy thus breaking the CRIMINAL's (see above 2) causing death by strangulation.

Wasn't that tough was it?