If you were sentenced to five years in prison but had the option of receiving lashes instead, what would you choose? You would probably pick flogging. Wouldn't we all?
I propose we give convicts the choice of the lash at the rate of two lashes per year of incarceration. One cannot reasonably argue that merely offering this choice is somehow cruel, especially when the status quo of incarceration remains an option. Prison means losing a part of your life and everything you care for. Compared with this, flogging is just a few very painful strokes on the backside. And it's over in a few minutes.
#1
We also gave up literally branding thieves et al a good while ago. Other than appearing in public without a shirt to display for the world your personal record, it might help in dating asking your companion to see your backside just for a quick check. Then again, there is that tendency for girls to go for 'bad boys'. It might start a trend.
#2
No thanks. If someone kills somebody and gets 50 lashes instead of 25 yrs I won't be impressed. I'd prefer they be bubba's b*tch for 2 and a half decades.
#3
A rapid, affordable and humane way to bring condemned criminals to justice who have committed capital offenses without the prolonged burden and cost on society of imprisonment is beheading by guillotine. You can behead 75 murderers, rapists, or pedophiles in 90 minutes. For more information about the efficiency and history of the guillotine, check out http://www.capitalpunishmentuk.org/guillotine.html
Posted by: Fi ||
04/26/2011 15:06 Comments ||
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#4
Plus the over-worked flogger wouldn't have to risk flogger's elbow, Fi.
#5
An interesting idea - but people can endure pain. Only two lashes per year of sentence is really not much - if you have a ten year sentence, that is only twenty lashes. Unless the flogging is done with a cat of nine tails with iron balls, you would probably recover quickly. And if you were allowed to be dosed with pain killers ahead of time, and treated with antibiotics right away afterward, you would hardly even notice it.
Besides, how many lashes do you get if you are sentenced to life? Would it depend on how old you are, and what your life expectancy is?
Of course, if the flogging were two lashes per month of jail time, and you weren't allowed to have pain killers before or after the flogging, the plan might have more merit.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia ||
04/26/2011 17:42 Comments ||
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#6
The plan has zero merit. The purpose of jail is to separate civilised society from those in jail.
#8
If we're reviving old punishments, I vote for murderers, rapists and kidnappers to be broken on the wheel and allowed to die of exposure. The record is 4 days.
#9
A major use of imprisonment is: exclusion of the offender from the community that they harmed. As for the parlor question: i suppose I would take the lashes, as long as there would be no permanent scarring.
#10
I don't mind bringing back corporal punishment for petty offenses, say a first arrest for shoplifting or first offense for drunk driving. But I wouldn't use it in lieu of any jail sentence longer than one year.
The reason is that most first offenses of this sort that are charged as adults tends to be people who are fairly young. Getting a few lashes on the steps of the county court house in public does several things to the brain.
It might well dissuade one from a further life of crime. But if it doesn't work that first time, I wouldn't favor using it again. At that point one should go to jail.
The thing about corporal punishment of that sort is that there is no way to negotiate your way out of pain. And once administered it is over and done with. Prison guard unions hardest hit.
I might also favor use of it inside prisons for minor offenses but it would have to be very tightly controlled so guards don't become abusive.
Someone caught with contraband, for example, might expect a few lashes.
#11
FWIW, Mrs. Bobby served a few years in Texas probabtion and observed that 10-15% had made a mistake, followed all the rules and requirements of probation, and would never be back.
85% were habitual offenders, in her opinion. Flogging would just lead to 'floggers elbow'.
Posted by: Bobby ||
04/26/2011 23:36 Comments ||
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[Dawn] Last week the capital police incarcerated a jihad boy affiliated with Tehrik-i-Taliban Punjab chapter for his alleged involvement in the kidnapping of an inspector and a patwari.
The jihad boy -- Sibghatullah Mavia -- was incarcerated from Vehari. He is the brother of Asmatullah Mavia, head of the TTP Punjab chapter, and is reported to have studied at Bahauddin Zakariya University Multan.
Sibghatullah has allegedly led a gang that has carried out a number of kidnappings for ransom. During interrogation he confessed to his involvement in kidnappings, adding that a jihad boy from Khanewal was also involved.
Sibghatullah is in policy custody for the moment.
However, The contradictory However... his capture is not just being celebrated because he can be held accountable for the crimes he has committed but for what his release can lead the Taliban to do.For the past few months, the police have been focusing on the case of the
kidnapping of Inspector Rana Pervez and Patwari Arshad Mehmood. Both went missing from Tarnol on December 3; later it was said that they were kidnapped by the TTP.
Investigations revealed that the TTP wanted to kidnap a property dealer -- Rana Sadique -- for ransom. The kidnappers set up an appointment with him on the pretext of wanting to buy property.
However, The contradictory However... Sadique could not make it to the appointed meeting and instead sent his 'brother', Rana Pervez. The latter, who is an inspector in the police force, is a business partner of Sadique and close enough for the property dealer to consider him a brother.
The inspector asked the 'prospective buyers' to meet him at his house in sector G-8/4 from where they all left together to see the property in Tarnol. En route they also picked up the patwari.
No one has since seen the inspector or the patwari. Oddly enough, the kidnappers have not contacted the inspector's family or the police for ransom money or made any other kind of a demand in exchange for his release. However, The contradictory However... the patwari's family has been hit by a ransom demand.
On December 20, three suspects were picked up when they arrived at Chungi No 26 to get the ransom the patwari's family had agreed to pay -- one of them was a homeopathic doctor.
However, The contradictory However... all the accused were released on bail after a behind the scene agreement with the Taliban that in exchange the two hostages would be freed. Three month later, the families of Rana Pervez and Arshad Mehmood continue to wait.
This delay has worried the police, as in their experience, the TTP finalises a deal (financial or otherwise) in 20 days to a month and sets the victim free after getting the amount. A four-month period is rare, to say the least. However, The contradictory However... mediators, which include tribal jirgas that have been organised to secure their release, assure the police that the two hostages are still alive.
In the meantime, the Sherlocks have rounded up around a dozen people, including cut-throats as well as the secretary of a slain leader of banned Sunni bad turban group. These people have been picked up not to provide leads but to serve as 'bait' to get the kidnappers to agree to free the hostages in exchange for these people in the custody of the state.
Sibghatullah is also seen as part of this 'bait'.
However, The contradictory However... the questions that no one seems to be asking is why the police are legitimising a kidnapping by getting involved in negotiations with the kidnappers and even carrying them out. Just because the police are not handing over money and are offering hostages in exchange does not make their action any better.
The world over, the police tend to discourage distraught families from handing over the ransom in exchange for kidnapped hostages. But in Pakistain, the police, instead of stopping the families, are carrying out the exchange themselves; more serious still, they are picking up people and holding them in jug till they can be exchanged for the hostages. Surely, this is unethical and far from legal.
Agreed that kidnapping is emerging as a serious crime in Pakistain and the law enforcement personnel have to make every effort possible to ensure the release of the innocent citizens. However, The contradictory However... Is your neck tired yet? carrying out exchanges may serve to encourage the kidnappers.We need a long term solution, not a short term firefighting.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/26/2011 00:00 ||
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Punjab
