Entitled to privacy after being convicted?

Discussion in 'Ethics, Morality, & Justice' started by Captain_Crunch, Jul 3, 2004.

  1. Captain_Crunch Club Ninja Valued Senior Member

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    2,186
    I was listening to the radio the other day and it was about how this geezer who got caught with cocaine and a gun. The police used his mugshot on a poster and said basically: if you break the law then you ultimately you will end up in jail like this bloke. He was already in jail and has already been dealt his sentence, he is serving his term in prison just now. He is sueing the police because they used his face without his permission, he said that he should be left in peace to serve his time as he has already been punished for the crime and he never realised that his face would be used in this way before he commited the crime.

    You could say that now that he is a well known criminal he and his family will be subject to vigilante attacks, his chances of reoffending are high because he will always have to deal with this even if you tries to become clean and live an honest and decent life, he will always be thought of as a criminal. You could also say that if he is a criminal and therefore deserves to get is identity used in this way then every other criminal should have their identity exposed in the same fashion and anything but this would be unfair.

    Alternatively you could say that he deserves it because he has broken the law and should deal with the consequences, already under the law when you are convicted of a crime your identity is unveiled anyway and by publishing it does nothing criminal in itself, all it does is make it widely available to the public.

    As I see it, I cant actually say that he has done anything seriously wrong, cocaine never used to be illegal up until the wars, he is mearly selling a controlled substance, that isnt a big deal to me. This problem is only a problem because of the government's policy. Guns in Britain also never used to be illegal either and since the ban the gun crime has also went through the roof, this is also a government created problem. I think he has a case, he has already been punished for his crime and to blacken his reputation forever is abit harsh, he didnt even kill anybody with his gun.

    What are your views?
     
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  3. Working Class Hero Skank Monster Registered Senior Member

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    The police shouldnt have used his face, he's tainted for life now... But if he had cocaine and a gun chances are he was a dealer, and whilst using it is a victimless crime, dealing it most certainly isnt. He has a case, in the second instance that he had his face used illegally. But in the second instance, he deserved to go to prison for dealing drugs, which is a crime in my opinion.
     
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  5. Nasor Valued Senior Member

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    Eh? If nobody's victimized when using it, then how does selling it victimize people?
     
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  7. spaganya aka superwoman's evil sister Registered Senior Member

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    Personally i think they should use more mugshots as an example. The guy is probably embarrassed mostly about his being caught by the police, but you better belive that that dude's picture is a deterent to someone else because they might think that hey, if i screw up my picture could be on a billboard too!

    I think they should go back to the days of public humiliation for certain crimes. Like shoplifters should have to walk in front of the store they stole with a sandwich sign on saying "i am a thief, i stole from this store". Its a deterent. If people know that their crimes are made public and understand that hey, someone could be laughing at me or ridiculing me because of something i chose to do that was wrong, and i knew it? that might stop some other fool from doing the same thing.

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  8. Quantum Quack Life's a tease... Valued Senior Member

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    Maybe the police should put a picture of average honest citizen and say,

    If you commit a crime you will pay for it for the rest of your life even though the sentence is less.

    I wonder how a law abiding citizen would react to having his picture plastered all over town with inuendo attached.

    The law is dealt at the time of the case and all sentences are placed at that time. If the sentence included public shaming for the rest of his life it should have been stated at his trial, and be part of the deterrent to start with.
     
  9. Don’t the names of criminals arrested get published in the news papers get published where you live? Just going a little is all.
     
  10. spaganya aka superwoman's evil sister Registered Senior Member

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    A law abiding citizen wouldnt have to worry, they are law abiding. The punishment would be reserved for criminals. And the billbord or whatever doesnt last forever, its replaced by some other criminal that screwed up a few weeks later.

    I say screw it. You do the crime, you do the time. Thats part of the problem with todays criminal justice system. there are too many people that are getting slaps on the wrist, and everyone knows that if the consequences arent that bad for doing something you shouldnt do, then whats to stop you from doing it?

    a criminal is a criminal. if you dont like the way they treat criminals, dont be one.
     
  11. Quantum Quack Life's a tease... Valued Senior Member

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    bring back the stocks hey?
     
  12. spaganya aka superwoman's evil sister Registered Senior Member

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    heck, it sure would deter me!!!

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  13. mountainhare Banned Banned

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    I definitely agree with this.
    But your line of reasoning is "Bad luck, they are criminals, they deserve it".
    You seem to think that 'criminals' are a seperate group from 'normal' human beings. However, if you bother to visit any jails and talk to some crims, you will realize that they are normal human beings, just like you and me. Sure, some of them are thugs, but the majority just made a mistake.

    Don't you agree that people can make mistakes? Maybe you are angry, lose you temper, take a swing, and kill someone.
    You should be punished for your mistake.
    However, you shouldn't have to live with it for the rest of your life. By publicizing a person's crimes, you are merely punishing them beyond making them 'do their time'. Known ex-criminals are harassed, avoided, hated, and denied jobs. Once a community knows about your crimes, you are screwed for life.
     
  14. Quantum Quack Life's a tease... Valued Senior Member

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    Just a thoght
    "If we were held accountable for every mistake we made for the rest of our lives we would do and say nothing, just sit there and never attempt to do anything for fear of making a mistake."
     
  15. spaganya aka superwoman's evil sister Registered Senior Member

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    FYI - im a police officer - so i have had my share of visiting jails and come in contact with criminals daily. It is because of my job that i am able to say that one of the reasons that violence has reached the heights that it has is because people dont understand the consequences of their actions. You ask a drug dealer on the street nowadays why they do what they do when they know its illegal and wrong, and they will almost always respond "yeah so what? nothing will happen to me other than a few years in jail" they dont seem to care. apparently the consequences that exist now arent enough of a deterrent to crime.

    another thing is, yes there are "normal" people serving time for things that they just did during "snap" judgements or moments of anger or whatnot, but i also think that they can be subject to the same embarrassment/punishment because it reminds us that when we get to that moment of anger or get to a point where we make that split second decision, it will weigh on our mind that if we choose the lower road, there will be a consequence.

    that is my point. just because you are otherwise a nice person doesnt mean you shouldnt get punished for what you do. thats like saying the nice old man that lived next door to you who everyone says "was such a nice neighbor" shouldnt get convicted and make it public when he molests some little kid.
     
  16. spaganya aka superwoman's evil sister Registered Senior Member

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    also i want to make the point im not talking about someone who in a fit of rage kills her husband after years of physical abuse from him... im talking about the person who knowingly and deliberately chooses to do something criminal. Things like DUI's, larcenies, weapons violations, drug violations.. things like that. you cant deter someone really from a fit of rage, but you can stop someone from turning to a life of drug dealing from getting them to see what could happen to them if they chose that life....
     
  17. Quantum Quack Life's a tease... Valued Senior Member

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    Spaganya,
    You would say that the degree of premeditation is important to this discussion?
    Maybe this could be used as a criteria for the "shaming" of convicted crims.
     
  18. Cob Nut Registered Member

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    Personally I do not see the need for a photograph showing ANYBODY'S face given the message that this poster is trying to convey.

    Show a rear-view shot of prisoners in a prison exercise yard if you must.

    But what justification can there be for picking on one prisoner out of a prison population fo several tens of thousands and saying "This is the face that will deter people form crime"?

    I think the poster as described was not appropriately conveived or executed.
     
  19. Working Class Hero Skank Monster Registered Senior Member

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    Crack dealers infamously give crack away free at first, in order to get people addicted. Then they whack in with the prices. And if you were to decide you wanted off the crack, they could always change your mind as it were... Crack dealers exploit the poor and defenseless, another arguement for its legalisation becuase then you could regulate who sells the stuff.
     
  20. zanket Human Valued Senior Member

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    3,777
    Agreed. It doesn't matter what the crime is. This man has a good lawsuit.
     
  21. zanket Human Valued Senior Member

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    This is a special case. Sex offenders’ general whereabouts are made public after their incarceration for the reason that there is ample evidence that they cannot control the urge to re-offend; that is, they cannot be rehabilitated nearly as well as the average person can for other crimes, and the crime is too severe to take much chance on a re-offense. In my state sex offenders are given one chance. The second offense yields life without parole.
     
  22. SpyMoose Secret double agent deer Registered Senior Member

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    1,641
    Your beef with crack dealers is that they use common capitalistic techniques to build a market for themselves? How about how they sell a product that poses a safety hazard to the consumer!
     
  23. Quantum Quack Life's a tease... Valued Senior Member

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    Warning label on the Crack. "Crack has been known to destroy peoples lives and force people into crime"

    That'll be the day hey?
     

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