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Originally Posted by Nage Waza
Since when am I hiding behind anything? I don't just think public safety, but also simple punishment.
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Sorry, I didn't mean to say you were. I was referring to Polak's argument.
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Originally Posted by EldrickOnIce
We should also allow the too drunk to know what I was doing defense again. That was excellent.
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I think there's a tremendous difference between the choice to have alcohol/drugs and a psychotic episode (or in the case of rubecube's scenario where the choice wasn't made).
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Originally Posted by Nage Waza
On the other hand, the big difference is in the real scenario his brain is what fed the chemicals, the second scenario is someone provided the chemicals. If the brain is the 'defective' part, just like they are determining with so many criminals, than why are we letting this guy go but not so many other criminals?
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No one is advocating for someone with ADHD to have a get out of jail free card, in the quite literal sense.
People can have mental disorders of all sorts and still have the capacity to make decisions. That's a difference, I believe, that can't be overlooked.
A psychotic episode where you lose any resemblance of control to make decisions isn't the same as having a mental disorder and committing a crime. I think there is room to have a justice system that punishes along with rehabilitates. I don't know if there's a system that can punish someone for actions they have no control over and still call it a justice system.