"But, Nicole! They're just kids!" Uh, huh.

[SarahG]

Actually your examples dont apply here. It both cases it can be argued it was hysteria that led to the public torture and executions, and not the other way around as you suggest.

That's debatable. There are a great many sources where people in France were lamenting on how fast the guillotine made executions, and how they longed for having a spectacle from public executions again to use as "family entertainment." Thus they needed far more bodies in the same amount of time to get the same enjoyment out of it. It was a keen interest in blood sport, nothing less.

Also, for example, removing a perpetrators genitals for having raped someone would not be considered torture by many, as much as justice.

That's great... until someone does it to a falsely convicted person who just happened to be innocent. What then, "oops, sorry about that"???

In our society guys face a stacked deck when it comes to accusations relating to sex crimes. Even once acquitted as innocent because of hard evidence, once a guy in western society has been an accused rapist- he will never be able to shake that label and will have it haunt him to his death bed. Look how fast people are to assume someone is a pedophile...

The same for removing the hand of a serial thief. Send that little fella back to his gang instead of jail and lets see how many others are willing to take the risk.

So why is there any crime at all in the middle east? If this is such a perfect answer, why would they need to keep amputating hands?

One could argue he could only steal half as much.

White collar crime steals far more then petty thefts ever do, and committing white collar crimes do not require hands at all.

As the saying goes; and a fox may steal your hens.

[Stoked]

Actually your examples dont apply here. It both cases it can be argued it was hysteria that led to the public torture and executions, and not the other way around as you suggest.

That's debatable. There are a great many sources where people in France were lamenting on how fast the guillotine made executions, and how they longed for having a spectacle from public executions again to use as "family entertainment." Thus they needed far more bodies in the same amount of time to get the same enjoyment out of it. It was a keen interest in blood sport, nothing less.

Also, for example, removing a perpetrators genitals for having raped someone would not be considered torture by many, as much as justice.

That's great... until someone does it to a falsely convicted person who just happened to be innocent. What then, "oops, sorry about that"???

In our society guys face a stacked deck when it comes to accusations relating to sex crimes. Even once acquitted as innocent because of hard evidence, once a guy in western society has been an accused rapist- he will never be able to shake that label and will have it haunt him to his death bed. Look how fast people are to assume someone is a pedophile...

The same for removing the hand of a serial thief. Send that little fella back to his gang instead of jail and lets see how many others are willing to take the risk.

So why is there any crime at all in the middle east? If this is such a perfect answer, why would they need to keep amputating hands?

One could argue he could only steal half as much.

White collar crime steals far more then petty thefts ever do, and committing white collar crimes do not require hands at all.

As the saying goes; and a fox may steal your hens.

That's debatable. There are a great many sources where people in France were lamenting on how fast the guillotine made executions, and how they longed for having a spectacle from public executions again to use as "family entertainment." Thus they needed far more bodies in the same amount of time to get the same enjoyment out of it. It was a keen interest in blood sport, nothing less.

Your example was the French Reign of Terror where the french government created the Committee of Public Safety to suppress foes by mass murders and executions. It was the hysteria of the government that led to the executions and murders, not the murders that led to the hysteria of the government

That's great... until someone does it to a falsely convicted person who just happened to be innocent. What then, "oops, sorry about that"???

maybe not in 100% of rape cases but DNA evidence is highly accurate and widely excepted last I looked. False convictions are miniscule if even that based on DNA. Thats why so many have been released from prisons where DNA proved they didnt commit the crime.

So why is there any crime at all in the middle east? If this is such a perfect answer, why would they need to keep amputating hands?

I dont have time to look up crime statistics in the middle east, but as I remember it theft was far less common when they removed a hand.

White collar crime steals far more then petty thefts ever do, and committing white collar crimes do not require hands at all.

you are right, they should have a hand AND their balls removed.