And the son of sam killer thought a dog was telling him to kill people, and the Manson murderers thought what they were doing was the right thing to do. What they did was terribly wrong, and what they thought doesn't matter.
No, what someone who commits a crime thinks
does matter. If I shoot someone climbing thru my window, thinking it's an armed robber, but it turns out to be my drunken neighbor who got my house mixed up with his ... I may be guilty of being hasty, there may be some law I have broken, but I have not commited murder with malice aforethought.
I think Son of Sam, as I recall, was insane. We treat insane people differently from sane people when they commit crimes. The Manson killers were not insane, although they were under the influence of someone who may have been.
We have two problems here, which are closely related: (1) we don't really understand the mind/brain. Words like 'sane' and 'insane' just show our conceptual impoverishment. Similarly, a young woman under the influence of a powerful male is not really acting as she would were she not under his influence.
Take the case of Patty Hearst. Kidnapped by a gang, raped, held in a closet, and ... 'brainwashed' ...
Patricia Campbell Hearst (born February 20, 1954)[1] is the granddaughter of American publishing magnate William Randolph Hearst. She first became known for the events following her 1974 kidnapping by the Symbionese Liberation Army. She was found and arrested 19 months after being abducted, by which time she was a fugitive wanted for serious crimes committed with members of the group. She was held in custody, and there was speculation before trial that her family's resources would enable her to avoid time in prison.
At her trial, the prosecution suggested that Hearst had joined the Symbionese Liberation Army of her own volition. However, she testified that she had been raped and threatened with death while held captive. In 1976, she was convicted for the crime of bank robbery and sentenced to 35 years in prison, later reduced to 7 years. Her sentence was commuted by President Jimmy Carter, and she was later pardoned by President Bill Clinton.
[
Patty Hearst - Wikipedia ]
I think Carter and Clinton did the right thing here.
We don't know much about the mind, which is one thing. And people will lie to evade responsibility for their crimes, which is the second. So when we have cases which are not as dramatic as Patty Hearst's, it can be a problem.
In the case of the 6 January people, I say, let their punishment be the same as it would be for a leftwing mob doing the same thing.
There are no examples of a leftwing mob doing the same thing, so we have to look at near precedents.
So I ask the leftists/liberals here, again: if the mob had invaded the Capitol, but without quite the same level of violence, and then had proceeded to peacefully occupy it ... what would your response be?
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