The Right To Die?
Right to die?
Should a serial killer be given the right to decide any part of his future fate? If they get life in prison should they be allowed to choose death instead?
I am a firm supporter of the death penalty, especially in the cases of serial killers, serial rapists and pedophiles. These people are not fixable, they can not be ‘saved’ and they will never become contributing members of society.
I can see no reason to keep them alive.
In my opinion if a serial killer says “kill me”, do it. Hell, if they don’t say it, do it anyway so that they can not hurt / kill other prisoners, guards, medical staff, visitors, maintenance staff and so on.
I have heard the arguments against it and I can not agree.
No, life in prison could be horrible, I do not care. Even if they do not ‘adjust’ they are a risk as I stated above and the risk is worse if they ever escape.
I do not want to make them suffer or “pay”, even if we could it would not be worth it. They are not worth it. Making them suffer while risking others is stupid and really most do adapt to prison. Some, many, come to enjoy the routine, the fact that they live on and they use their vivid imaginations to find pleasure even in prison. It is much better to just let them go, if it makes you feel better think of the afterlife they could endure.
It does not make us “like them” anymore than killing a guy running at you with a knife does. They are a threat to whoever comes into contact with them. Killing them could save many.
Anyway. Here is a decent documentary on Ian Brady and his fight to be allowed to die in prison. The video quality is not the best and I do not agree with some of the ideas but it is still very interesting.
Please, share your thoughts if you want.
I would like to read Ian’s book, The Gates of Janus. If you have read it please let me know what you think.
Real Life Monsters 
“In my opinion if a serial killer says “kill me”, do it. Hell, if they don’t say it, do it anyway so that they can not hurt / kill other prisoners, guards, medical staff, visitors, maintenance staff and so on.”
Agreed. The quicker, the better. I do believe that there are some who would gladly take the needle as opposed to spending a lifetime in prison. If they’re man enough to request it, by all means, give it to ’em….and be quick about it.
My thoughts have always been to do that which the killer would hate most just to make his life a living hell. However, your viewpoint is equally compelling and one that I must consider.
On the one hand, why should our taxpayer dollars pay to keep scum alive. Why should we risk keeping them alive and the possibility that they might escape one day. The reason I visit this possibility is because when I was a child. The woman and family living above us in our apartment building was the husband of William Mosley.
William Mosley murdered Kitty Genovese in Astoria, Queens one night during the 60’s. I suspect that you may already be familiar with this poor woman’s ending, if not, please google it and forgive me for not revisiting this nightmare. You would find it quite interesting.
Mosley escaped from jail more than once. At that time, my father was in Vietnam which meant that we were home alone with my mother. Each time this man escaped, his escapes sent ripples of fear through my mother’s heart. To this day, I never told me mother that this man’s escape sent ripples of fear through my eight year old heart as well because being the oldest of four children, I was unlucky enough to know why my mother was so afraid.
The man was a psycho and her biggest fear is that he would come to our apartment or through our kitchen window looking for his wife who by the way had moved on.
Now that I have revisited that moment, ending the lives of such psychos so that they could no more harm sounds like a grand idea.
Correction: I meant to say that the woman living above us was the WIFE of William Mosley. If I made any other grammatical or spelling errors, please forgive me. Those memories are a little rough, even four plus decades later.
I can only imagine the fear that must have run through your family. It is so sad that you had to live with that fear!
I do know the case. I grew up in New Jersey and I can remember the event being on the news especially during his escape, the prison riots and his parole hearings.There was also the later killing of another girl where people hear screams but did not call police and that revived interest in Kitty’s death.
Moseley was a brutal and vicious killer and he really should be a poster boy for capital punishment!
It is in part for reasons such as those that you have spoken about that I support the death penalty.
I understand that for some prisoners the idea of life in prison is horrifying but in reality they do tend to adjust and find ways to occupy their time.
Thank you for sharing your story with me. I tend to repeat myself when it comes to my belief that no crime has only the dead as victims. The families of all involved are made victims and society in general suffers deeply. You have pointed that out eloquently by talking about growing up as a neighbor to the killer.
Thank you again!
PS. Please, never worry about spelling or grammar when replying here. Have you not read my pages! 😉