You are clearly a better person than I, since you can say for CERTAIN that you would never commit a crime, no matter what circumstances and events might be exerting pressure on you. Everywhere I look, I see PEOPLE committing crimes out of desperation, and I can understand (as well as I might) what has driven them there. I think so too can many others among us (Hollywood plays on these sympathies all the time...) Some of us are less tolerant, as it were, refusing to identify with the worst criminals, but still extending some sympathy to criminals who act out of desperation. MY view is that EVEN the worst of the worst are products of our society. Children who kill each other at school are certainly emotionally unbalanced with violent tendencies, but they are that way BECAUSE of something. Violence in the media is partly responsible, lack of family support is also responsible. Killing these people is merely a way to sweep society's mistakes under the carpet.You say the testing should be optional, allowing for a reduced sentence. Clearly this would not be a choice at all. If given the choice of freedom or imprisonment, what would yours be? How much do you value each day of your life? Are criminals any different? You know as well as I that the prisons and research companies would put incredible pressure on these prisoners, and would also likely mislead them. I can picture now the ways prisoners would be threatened with even longer sentences if they refused testing. One last point, you DO realize that the point of much testing is to examine reaction to pain? You DO realize the testing is a virtual desecration of the body, and the emotional and mental torture that results is surely just as severe as the physical?
You say you are above such crimes. Perhaps you could recognize what privilege you come from which allows you to be above such crimes. Perhaps you should be thankful. Many people are simply not strong enough all the time to overcome the pressures of society; they crumble and commit crimes. This is not right or good, but it is not MERELY their failing; it is society's failing as well, for allowing things like spousal abuse to occur (response: education of boys and men, support, outreach, anger management courses, changing the portrayal of women in media and advertizing, ad campaigns), like people growing up in poverty (better social programs, higher taxes on those who don't NEED the money, better access to education, breakfast programs, higher minimum wages, more money for welfare), like violence in children-focused media (response: a SERIOUS change in societal attitudes is necessary so that violent toys and television are no longer acceptable, better anti-violence education, early SUPPORTIVE intervention, not merely a policy of expulsion). These are a few ways to combat crime other than using state-level murder.
As for alcoholics and children of alcoholics, speaking as one who has grown up knowing no other kind of parent, the pressures are real, or rather unreal. There are times when I am strong enough to fight off the pattern I grew up with. (I drink VERY rarely.) SOMETIMES, usually when I am in a difficult place in my life, I give in to the pressures, because it is the only way I learned from my parents to cope with life. Thus it is the easiest one to fall back on. I know when I do it I am being weak, but aren't we all weak sometimes? Are you better than I? Many, many people also have similar stories, and the fault is not theirs alone. Why should I have grown up in an alcoholic house? Why did my parents come from alcoholic backgrounds? Again, there needs to be much better support for such children, more outreach, and better education. Education is not enough though, when something so fundamental in you has been exposed to alcohol.
None.
