Agrippina

No there are different types of mental illness:
substance-related, different types of schizophrenia, cognitive, anxiety, sleep, impulse-control. etc.
If you want the entire list with definitions, google DSM-IV, you wil find the different classifications with definitions.
We all have quirks, there is no such thing as a perfectly normal human being and therefore my theory is that is psychology was included in every child's medical profile, then problems could be identified very early and a lot of criminality can be avoided. The trouble is the idea that if you go to a psychologist you are 'crazy' and the stigma that is still attached to 'crazy' behaviour.

Oregon Elephant

Well I gave it a try.

counterpointing

I’m going to give an argument, and I’ll use an example. People have murder in their blood for many different reasons: jealousy, hatred, everything in between. When the Russians laid siege to Berlin they finally defeated the Nazis. However, afterward, the soldiers didn’t stop there, they raped and killed the women, the children, and the elderly (note, I’m not commenting on WWII, just stating a fact). Murder is in mankind’s blood.
Right now psychology cannot treat criminals effectively. I give them admiration for following scientific method, but the mind is to complex for our current understanding. And if one believes in evolution, one would see that the mind will probably never be fully known, for it is continuously changing, and there are new variations being born every minute.
>>>>>>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------->
--- "The worst deaf is the one who doesn't want to hear." ---

--- "In the kingdom of the blind, the one-eyed man is king." ---

--- “Better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to open your mouth and remove all doubt.” ---
ß-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------<<<<<<

counterpointing

You just compared man to deer. Deer have survived because of their flightiness. Put a man and a shark in a swimming pool and measure there adrenalin, see which creature has the higher. Or if you want to keep it in the mammal family, try a polar bear.
>>>>>>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------->
--- "The worst deaf is the one who doesn't want to hear." ---

--- "In the kingdom of the blind, the one-eyed man is king." ---

--- “Better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to open your mouth and remove all doubt.” ---
ß-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------<<<<<<

kateri0080

I am all for the death penalty. I have a different view I think though. Personally, I do believe there are things worst than death, so when someone is put up for death, I think they should find a way to help society since they obviously haven't. I think that the people on death row and have a date to be executed should die by infection. There are so many virus's and diseases that have no cure. If we infect the people on death row, we can also try to cure them, and if it doesn't work, than we know what medicine doesn't work, so it wont have to be tested on an innocent victim who has a right to live. Its a little inhumane, or a lot, but to me it makes sense. Why have innocent people die when people who are sentenced to die anyway can give them a chance to live?

Oregon Elephant

I will give you that it is very productive in finding cures. You could try highly experimental cancer treatments that you couldn't do on other sick people for fear of lawsuit. But it is most definately very inhumane. One thing that I don't like about some anti-DP is that it costs too much to kill them. So put a 20 cent bullet in the back of their head . Than they say that's too inhumane.

Agrippina

Subjectively, I agree with you. For example, I wouldn't normally have an abortion but if I was raped, there would be no question about it because I subjectively believe that the child would be a violent person who I couldn't care about. Perhaps a way of punishing the 'sins of the father'. But objectively that is not true. We are not born bad. We learn our behavior in our early years from the people who care for us. Sometimes there is faulty wiring and mental illness results from that and in some cases can lead to a 'bad' person being born. You sometimes see a child in a perfectly normal family with no problems, turn out to be animal killer or try to harm siblings. But if parents see this kind of behavior early treatment can help, not always - generalizations are not right but most kids are not bad. People become bad through conditioning. Like you example of the soldiers. If you take another example in the North African states like the Sudan and Darfur, where there are really bad problems and in Sierra Leone with the blood diamonds and child solders, it is conditioning. We become conditioned to violence and especially in war. If you get an 12 year old and teach him to kill, he will always be a killer, rehabilitating these people is a huge problem. Like my example of Ted Bundy, as much as I abhor the death penalty it was right in his case.

It is very good that psychology methods change all the time, it means that the science is evolving. Psychology can treat criminals it just costs more money. The mind is complex but psychologists understand how it works. I understand how the mind works and I only have BA level psychology. But it is not that difficult to understand.

No More "W's"

I am for state sponsored victim retribution in cases of violent crimes. For cases involving loss of property, I am for indenturship.

Oregon Elephant

Why is that? Can you go into detail about why you feel this way?
(I'm just trying to spark some life into a new outlook in this thread)

Agrippina

Your name isn't Josef Mengele by any chance?