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From: mat@hou5d.UUCP (M Terribile)
Newsgroups: net.flame
Subject: Re: Re: Clar ... gun' -BAH HUMBUG! - (nf)
Message-ID: <685@hou5d.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 4-Oct-83 11:15:49 EDT
Article-I.D.: hou5d.685
Posted: Tue Oct  4 11:15:49 1983
Date-Received: Thu, 6-Oct-83 23:51:07 EDT
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Organization: AT&T Information Systems Laboratories, Holmdel, NJ
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Scott Preese states that most mugginngs involve threats, not actual
killing.  This is rapidly changing in areas where mugging is common.
The only reason the mugger keeps you alive is the fact that it is easier
to get you to GIVE him your wallet than to dig it out of your pocket
after you are dead.  A few weeks ago, a kid was killed on Francis Lewis
Boulevard near Hillside Avenue in Queens.  He was killed by a couple of
punks who wanted his radio (a ghetto blaster).  I nwe his family in when
I was in grade school.  Even at this distance and after 12 years,
it hits home.

Is is true that you are more likely to be killed resisting that cooperating.
On the other hand, if you increase the chances of killing the criminal,
you decrease the chance that he will be able to commit the dozens of crimes
a week that he otherwise might.  We aren't talking about kids taking a car
for a joyride -- we are talking about people who are willing, on a regular
basis to threaten and take strangers' lives.

Of course, the best solution lies in a well-staffed, properly trained and
controlled police department, backed by a court system with the authority,
the mandate, the commitment and the competence to insure that people who
are caught violating the rights of others will be given strong incentive
not to do it again, and will be prevented from doing it again by means
appropriate to the severity of the crime if there is any doubt about
ability to deter.  If it is found that no other means will serve (ie
if a lifer kill a prison guard) this means execution.  If a person is
given a ``second chance'' by a court system -- parole, time off for good
behavior, and, HAVING ACCEPTED THIS FAVOR, he again kill or threatens to
kill, he should be executed.  My own beliefs on this subject go even farther,
but I will leave the issue here.

						Mark Terribile
						Duke of deNet