Quote:
Originally Posted by Revolution
Mods: this is not a religion thread!! Ok, anyway . . .
As a lawyer, I've been exposed to a lot of depravity in my time, and it makes me wonder about a question I once asked a law professor of mine: are we anything more than the sum of our genetics and experience? If the answer is no (as my law professor theorized it is), then how can we justify the criminal justice system as a means of "punishment?" Incapacitation, yes, deterrence, yes, but punishment/retribution?
I do in fact believe there is some "higher" thought process. To paraphrase Justice Antonin Scalia of the U.S. Supreme Court (I don't know the exact quote), it does not take a highly developed sense of morality to recognize that there is something profoundly wrong with raping, torturing, and killing a child. (If memory serves, the death row defendants in that case were there because they jointly raped a 10 year old, then murdered her by suffocation -- they stuffed her underwear down her throat to asphixiate her. Yes, you read that correctly.)
But it's tough to quantify evil. You might not rank some idiot KKK loser from 80 years ago very high, but what would that loser do if he had the dictatorial power of, say, Hitler? He would probably try to kill all blacks, Jews, Catholics, homosexuals, etc. So is he "worse" than a murderer and torturer like, say, BTK? Or how about Dahmer, who was so obviously mentally ill?
So, can we actually quantify evil? And does evil, even in a non-religious sense, even exist?
(BTW, I'm nursing a pinched nerve. My mind is wandering. Cut me some slack for the ugly Saturday night question  )
--Rev |
Evil is a value judgment, but Michael Stone, a forensic psychologist from Columbia University, has developed a 22 step scale of "evil" that attempts to quantify it. The show Most Evil is that comes on Investigating Discovery is centered around this scale, with each show profiling various murderers and classifies their crime.
01 Those who kill in self-defense and do not show psychopathic tendencies
02 Jealous lovers who, though egocentric or immature, are not psychopathic
03 Willing companions of killers: aberrant personality — probably impulse-ridden, with antisocial traits
04 Kill in self-defense, but had been extremely provocative towards the victim
05 Traumatized, desperate people who kill abusive relatives and others (like to support a drug habit) but lack significant traits. Genuinely remorseful.
06 Impetuous, hotheaded murderers, yet without marked psychopathic features
07 Highly narcissistic, not distinctly psychopathic people with a psychotic core who kill people close to them (jealousy an underlying motive)
08 Non psychopathic people with smoldering rage who kill when rage is ignited
09 Jealous lovers with psychopathic features
10 Killers of people who were "in the way" or who killed, for example, witnesses (egocentric but not distinctly psychopathic)
11 Psychopathic killers of people "in the way"
12 Power-hungry psychopaths who killed when they were "cornered"
13 Killers with inadequate, rage-filled personalities who "snapped"
14 Ruthlessly self-centered psychopathic schemers
15 Psychopathic "cold-blooded" spree or multiple murders
16 Psychopaths committing multiple vicious acts
17 Sexually perverse serial murderers, torture-murderers (among the males, rape is the primary motive with murder to hide the evidence; Systematic torture is not a primary factor)
18 Torture-murderers with murder the primary motive
19 Psychopaths driven to terrorism, subjugation, intimidation and rape, (short of murder)
20 Torture murderers with torture as the primary motive but in psychotic personalities
21 Psychopaths preoccupied with torture in the extreme, but not known to have committed murder
22 Psychopathic torture-murderers, with torture their primary motive, sexual homicide