Should Sirhan Sirhan be paroled?

I'm sorry, it's Monday morning so I'm a little slow, but what part of "the killer is safe to release now because we've proven he's got real mental illness" makes sense? I would have thought demonstrating a murderer has actual brain problems is a reason to not parole him.
 
TragicMonkey said:
I'm sorry, it's Monday morning so I'm a little slow, but what part of "the killer is safe to release now because we've proven he's got real mental illness" makes sense? I would have thought demonstrating a murderer has actual brain problems is a reason to not parole him.
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I would think that, even on a Monday morning, the difference between a prison, which is a punitive institution, and a mental institution, which is an institution for healing, would be obvious. Moving an obviously mentally ill person out of a prison environment and into a hospital would seem a good idea to me.

And the idea that because someone has actual brain problems, he's therefore untreatable and will never be safe to release seems,.... naive. Certainly a number of psychopharmacologists that I know would disagree. Unless you're suggesting that the preferred treatment for bipolar disorder should be euthanasia instead of lithium,....
 
Code: 
Repeat
     Prisoner.Print "I don't remember doing that."
Until StringEquals(Psychiatrist.GetFromMouth(), "Sounds reasonable.")

Prisoner.Release(Using.Frontdoor)


You think a guy like Uri Geller is motivated to defeat a scientist...
 
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drkitten said:
I would think that, even on a Monday morning, the difference between a prison, which is a punitive institution, and a mental institution, which is an institution for healing, would be obvious. Moving an obviously mentally ill person out of a prison environment and into a hospital would seem a good idea to me.

And the idea that because someone has actual brain problems, he's therefore untreatable and will never be safe to release seems,.... naive. Certainly a number of psychopharmacologists that I know would disagree. Unless you're suggesting that the preferred treatment for bipolar disorder should be euthanasia instead of lithium,....
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But where does the article discuss moving him to an institution? It only ever mentions "release."
 
drkitten said:
I would think that, even on a Monday morning, the difference between a prison, which is a punitive institution, and a mental institution, which is an institution for healing, would be obvious. Moving an obviously mentally ill person out of a prison environment and into a hospital would seem a good idea to me.
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And I would think that, even on a Monday morning, the difference between placement in a mental institution and "going free", as the linked article stated, would be obvious. But perhaps on a Monday morning the urge to be snarky outweights the urge to follow the link?


And the idea that because someone has actual brain problems, he's therefore untreatable and will never be safe to release seems,.... naive. Certainly a number of psychopharmacologists that I know would disagree. Unless you're suggesting that the preferred treatment for bipolar disorder should be euthanasia instead of lithium,....
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What a lot of straw this is. There is a difference between a mental patient who has a proven track record of successful murder and one who does not. It seems.....naive to think they are the same.
 
TragicMonkey said:
What a lot of straw this is. There is a difference between a mental patient who has a proven track record of successful murder and one who does not.
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Not at all. I used lithium for bipolar for a reason; the "manic" stage of bipolar disorder is well-documented to yield criminal behavior as a possible result.

But bipolar is fairly easily treatable with lithium.

So if you have a bipolar criminal, you have at least two choices. You can lock him up, or you can medicate him, either of which will prevent further crimes.

Why do you assume that criminals are necessarily untreatable?
 
Psi Baba said:
But where does the article discuss moving him to an institution? It only ever mentions "release."
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"The article" isn't what's going to make the decision about his post-parole behavior and conditions. I suspect "the article" of biased journalism for exactly this reason; the journalist is either incompetent or deliberately misrepresenting the likely outcome of a successful parole hearing.
 
I imagine there are rules in place for deciding when this can occur, and he should not be given special consideration because his crime was famous. Or special disregard, for that matter.
 
drkitten said:
Not at all. I used lithium for bipolar for a reason; the "manic" stage of bipolar disorder is well-documented to yield criminal behavior as a possible result.

But bipolar is fairly easily treatable with lithium.

So if you have a bipolar criminal, you have at least two choices. You can lock him up, or you can medicate him, either of which will prevent further crimes.

Why do you assume that criminals are necessarily untreatable?
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Why do you assume that Sirhan Sirhan's mental illness is bipolar disorder? I can't imagine what axe you're grinding here, but I suggest it has little or nothing to do with this particular assassination, this particular assassin, or this particular thread.
 
It's worth noting that his attorney is a conspiracy nut: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jUocy9G0wovbiAFiHHCt3rsYSkiw?docId=0cb698559d814129806a2f6434282d52

Pepper, a New York-based lawyer who also is a British barrister, is the latest advocate of a second gunman theory. Believers claim 13 shots were fired while Sirhan's gun held only eight bullets and that the fatal shot appeared to come from behind Kennedy while Sirhan faced him.

Pepper also suggests Sirhan was "hypno-programmed," turning him into a virtual "Manchurian Candidate," acting robot-like at the behest of evil forces who then wiped his memory clean. It's the stuff of science fiction and Hollywood movies, but some believe it is the key.
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And then there's this:

Pepper said in an interview with The Associated Press that he has had Sirhan examined several times by psychologist Daniel Brown of Harvard University, an expert in hypnosis of trauma victims. He will not disclose exactly what was accomplished in the sessions but said, "There have been substantial breakthroughs."

Pepper said he may have more to say after the hearing.

"It was very clear to me that this guy did not kill Bob Kennedy," said Pepper.

Asked who did kill the senator, he said, "I believe I have it but I'm not going to deal with it at this time."
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"Bob" Kennedy? Really?

He should stay in prison for hiring an asshat as an attorney.
 
TragicMonkey said:
I'm sorry, it's Monday morning so I'm a little slow, but what part of "the killer is safe to release now because we've proven he's got real mental illness" makes sense? I would have thought demonstrating a murderer has actual brain problems is a reason to not parole him.
Click to expand...

My grandfather murdered my grandmother one morning with a pair of scissors in front of my 8 year old father, his 5 year old brother, and their ten year old sister. He was temporarily psychotic and thought she was trying to poison him her something like that. This was around 1949 or 1950. The police came and found him kneeling over her body with her throat sliced open, rocking back and forth repeating "what have I done, what have I done?"

My father and his brother were put in state custody, what he called a "home".

Apparently their father was only committed for about three years or so, and then released.

He lived a long, normal, and productive life, you never would have known what he did, in fact it was a secret he kept from his new family he created I've learned.

I never got to meet the man, only spoke with him one time. My father kept in touch with him, but they were never close.

I've never been sure how I feel about it.
 
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I wonder how things might have been different if we'd had Bobby Kennedy as president instead of Richard Nixon.
 
Regardless of his current mental capacity, there is plenty of evidence that at the time of the trial he remembered what so much other evidence supports: that he had fired the shots that killed RFK. It is clear from the linked article that the question of guilt cannot and will not be entertained by the parole board. The only question is whether he is fit for release into the general population. I vote no.

It's an interesting side issue that he might benefit from medical attention, but the parole board is not qualified to consider that, except, perhaps, as a condition of parole.
 
Whoa, I had no idea there was a CT to this particular Kennedy shooting.
 
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