Poll: Should immortal things be imprisoned forever, or for a time based on what evil they committed?

[SirPlindington]

Look, the Old Ones are clever. They'll just sleep through their sentence and then go on doing what they do. Cthulu slept in r'yleh for millions of years, and he's going to murder us all when he wakes up. Time won't make cthulu stop cthuing.

I'm sorry for creating that verb.

 

[Vitagen]

If we can be reasonably certain they won't reoffend. They should be locked up based on whether we think they're a threat to others or not. If they remain a threat forever, keep them locked up forever.

How about 30 or so so year as "life imprisonment", then they are evaluated. Based on their current state they are either imprisoned for another x years, or given a very strict parole. And are always on file.

Hm, a lot of people seem to be leaning towards a periodic ethical/psychological evaluation to determine the remainder of the being's sentence, and I've got to say I'm liking that idea as well.

But here's an interesting question: How does one go about the evaluation? Do we have some sort of psychologist specializing in creature's from the beyond? Or perhaps it's assumed that since we live in a universe with immortal beings imprisoned for eternity that we also have some sort of "Detect Thoughts" spell to verify that the entity in question has truly repented. Or maybe the universe we're in has a very simplified morality that enables us to just do a quick "Detect Alignment" or some such nonsense every thirty years.

So, Mr. Thaluikhain, any details? Or am I just putting way too much thought into it?

 

[Connor Wiebe]

I'm sorry, is this not more orientated towards greek gods? For example, prometheus was imprisoned on a sentence of eternity by zeus, for theft. Holy god man, that's a long time! also, they'd have no reason to stop being evil if their imprisoners said FOREVER, if the sentence was 5000 years and exactly that then they would have a time which they could get out at. Opposed to eternal evil plotting of escape. And evil laughter...

 

[Ledan]

If we can be reasonably certain they won't reoffend. They should be locked up based on whether we think they're a threat to others or not. If they remain a threat forever, keep them locked up forever.

How about 30 or so so year as "life imprisonment", then they are evaluated. Based on their current state they are either imprisoned for another x years, or given a very strict parole. And are always on file.

Hm, a lot of people seem to be leaning towards a periodic ethical/psychological evaluation to determine the remainder of the being's sentence, and I've got to say I'm liking that idea as well.

But here's an interesting question: How does one go about the evaluation? Do we have some sort of psychologist specializing in creature's from the beyond? Or perhaps it's assumed that since we live in a universe with immortal beings imprisoned for eternity that we also have some sort of "Detect Thoughts" spell to verify that the entity in question has truly repented. Or maybe the universe we're in has a very simplified morality that enables us to just do a quick "Detect Alignment" or some such nonsense every thirty years.

So, Mr. Thaluikhain, any details? Or am I just putting way too much thought into it?

Since im not a psychologist, i honestly dont know. I dont think there will be an automatic way of checking, or a foolproof one. Probably a psyche test, like Sweden and Norway have (recently learned we dont just let a serial killer out after 25 years, amazing). It's going to have its own problems, but its better than imprisoning an innocent being for eternity (which seems impossible).

 

[Ledan]

If we can be reasonably certain they won't reoffend. They should be locked up based on whether we think they're a threat to others or not. If they remain a threat forever, keep them locked up forever.

Maybe go back every few lifetimes and see if they're repented..

Yeah... that is a bit of problem since there's not much to do to make them change while imprisoned for entire lifetimes >__<

Community service? Sensitivity classes?

 

[Zorg Machine]

I am of the belief that any human can change given enough time and it would probably apply to other sentient, intelligent creatures (obviously ancient evil gods are not easily rehabilitated). After all, immortal creatures will get out eventually...because they are immortal.

 

[gideonkain]

Interesting discussion topic. Made me think of something else peculiar:

If you died and went to Heaven, wouldn't you be trapped in Heaven? I mean, it doesn't seem like anyone is given a choice so you'd basically be imprisoned in Heaven.

 

[Thaluikhain]

Hm, a lot of people seem to be leaning towards a periodic ethical/psychological evaluation to determine the remainder of the being's sentence, and I've got to say I'm liking that idea as well.

But here's an interesting question: How does one go about the evaluation? Do we have some sort of psychologist specializing in creature's from the beyond? Or perhaps it's assumed that since we live in a universe with immortal beings imprisoned for eternity that we also have some sort of "Detect Thoughts" spell to verify that the entity in question has truly repented. Or maybe the universe we're in has a very simplified morality that enables us to just do a quick "Detect Alignment" or some such nonsense every thirty years.

So, Mr. Thaluikhain, any details? Or am I just putting way too much thought into it?

Well, there's no particularly accurate of telling with people, as far as I know.

That's also coming down firmly on the "rehabilitation" side of things, rather than the "justice" or "deterrent" side of things. While I agree that rehabilitation should be an important part of the system, I also feel that once someone/thing has served their time, they should be free to make mistakes again, or not, same as everyone else. Otherwise, you'd end up locking people up because of things they might do, not have done.

On the other hand, you've also got a duty to protect the public, so I'm not sure about that.

 

[Turiski]

These three comics, in addition to being completely awesome, are also relevant to disucssion:

http://thecriminallawyer.tumblr.com/post/13990708347/3-rehabilitation-for-the-love-of-god-why
http://thecriminallawyer.tumblr.com/post/14205718659/4-deterrence-dont-do-that-again
http://thecriminallawyer.tumblr.com/post/14340624693/5-removal-retribution-retaliation-the-three-rs

Clearly, punishment should depend on the crime; we seem to place a lot of emphasis on the three Rs when it comes to immortal beings; perhaps we should consider rehabilitation or deterrence models?

 

[joshuaayt]

This depends- are we in control of them? I mean, are they just immortal beings, that can be physically restrained, or raging monsters?

For the former, I'd recommend using them in space missions. Send 'em off to Mars, or Pluto, or whatever, to establish a base. Cram some sensors in their head to pick up valuable space data, so even if they're uncooperative it'll be worth the effort.

For the latter, I'd just space them, full stop. Like Hulk, right before the Civil War.

 

[Vegosiux]

The punishment must fit the crime. Not much use for it otherwise.

Also, if you start sentencing immortals to eternal imprisonmnet, you're bound to run out of space at some point.

 

[mindlesspuppet]

Well in theory, if they act like humans, and humans are the ones dealing out the punishment, shouldn't they be punished like humans?

That being said, if a human were to eat a baby, unless they have a really really good lawyer or live in a place with a really messed up justice system, isn't that a life sentence? It might be worse for a being that lives a couple thousand years, but a life sentence is a life sentence.

Actually a life sentence is 20-25 years (in the USA at least), which is why you have double, triple, etc life sentences.