Should Murderers be allowed to kill themselves?

[IAN 2411]

As I stated at the outset, I have no strong views on this question, but I inclined towards not allowing it, because the only people likely to want it are probably incapable of making a sane decision about it. However the question intrigues me, and I have put it forward for dicussion, and I have tried to look at it from more than one angle.

I do not resile one bit from anything in the other thread because I believe that the death penalty is judicial murder, and those who support it are no better than the killer himself.

Go back to the other thread if you want to discuss this.

But surely as a court officer for the State/Country, you now stand back and watch a killer commit suicide legally; surely that is a form of judicial murder. This answer is in answer to the statement or question you posed at the beginning of this thread.

Oooo big blue writing scarey.

[Thorne]

But surely as a court officer for the State/Country, you now stand back and watch a killer commit suicide legally; surely that is a form of judicial murder.

Technically, if it's legal it can't be murder. Just as being a spectator standing outside of a building watching a jumper can't be called murder. Of course, if you encourage him to jump....

[MMI]

But surely as a court officer for the State/Country, you now stand back and watch a killer commit suicide legally; surely that is a form of judicial murder. This answer is in answer to the statement or question you posed at the beginning of this thread.

Oooo big blue writing scarey.

No, the judical sentence is imprisonment. Should the prisoner be subsequently executed, that would be an unlawful killing.

Assisting a person to commit suicide is, I believe, a crime in England, so, obviously, it could not happen here without a law change. Just as for husbands who accompany their wives to Dignitas's clinic in Switzerland, and return alone, providing a prison inmate with the means to kill himself would be an unlawful act. Yet there is a strong sentiment in favour of allowing close relatives to help their loved ones end their lives when it becomes too unbearable to endure.

As for the blue writing, I'm sorry if it frightened you. It's a commonly used device here to emphasise a point that the writer fears is being missed, and no-one else gets scared when it is used. In other words, don't be such a bloody big girl's blouse.