Current Events > Can serial killers get psychological help or are they completely lost?

(+) Yeah! (+)

Obviously we want to help them before they commit any acts, but what about the ones that have killed several people and want to keep going? Let's say we catch them, and put them in a ward. Can they actually be helped or are they too far gone?

i think it's best that we at least try to rehabilitate.

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We don't have any way to make psychopaths not psychopaths. They can only choose to not do it.

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Some people are broken beyond repair.

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happibivouac posted...

i think it's best that we at least try to rehabilitate.

This, we can certainly try to rehabilitate them. Not so sure about letting them back onto the streets though.

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TheMikh posted...

Not so sure about letting them back onto the streets though.

Why bother rehabilitating them then? Just lock them up and throw away the key if you cant execute them.

Health posted...

Why bother rehabilitating them then? Just lock them up and throw away the key if you cant execute them.

because they're in with others we may be attempting to rehabilitate.

though being opposed to capital punishment and a bit critical of life imprisonment as well, i've always been fond of ancient greece's model (offering perpetrators of murder or manslaughter the option of exile as an alternative to whatever punishment they face at home). if they rehabilitate themselves, great. if they don't, the punishment for their new crimes abroad may be even less pleasant, but they're no longer the problem of their home jurisdiction.

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TheMikh posted...

because they're in with others we may be attempting to rehabilitate.

though being opposed to capital punishment and a bit critical of life imprisonment as well, i've always been fond of ancient greece's model (offering perpetrators of murder or manslaughter the option of exile as an alternative to whatever punishment they face at home). if they rehabilitate themselves, great. if they don't, the punishment for their new crimes abroad may be even less pleasant, but they're no longer the problem of their home jurisdiction.

So send our prisoners abroad to, for example, less well developed countries, to be their problem?

I think the risks are too great to ever let a serial killer out of jail.

Whether they are "rehabilitated" or not, I think being a serial killer is something we don't have to forgive, and give people second chances for.

Depends on the person honestly
some people truly repent and some are too sick to understand theyre wrong

Only point of trying to "rehabilitate" them would be to prepare them for release. But, I'll be fair: I think they should stay in prison only for as long as their victims stay dead.

The only people who have any right to forgive them are the loved ones of those whom they've murdered. If I had my way, the only way they could be "rehabilitated" would be via an ouija board.

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Criminalt posted...

Only point of trying to "rehabilitate" them would be to prepare them for release. But, I'll be fair: I think they should stay in prison only for as long as their victims stay dead.

Agreed. I dont think murderers should ever be released.

However, rehabilitation isnt just for them. It could possibly make them easier to deal with, and the process of attempting to rehabilitate them could lead to advances in the field. Theres also always the remote possibility that theyll really come around, and could contribute to society in a positive way in some form.

Health posted...

So send our prisoners abroad to, for example, less well developed countries, to be their problem?

they don't have to be less developed. it can be anywhere willing to accept them.

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TheMikh posted...

they don't have to be less developed. it can be anywhere willing to accept them.

Health posted...

So send our prisoners abroad to, for example, less well developed countries, to be their problem?

This is basically how that prison in Mass Effect 2 became an extortion racket, but you guys have fun.

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Kanaya413 posted...

Depends on the person honestly
some people truly repent and some are too sick to understand theyre wrong

Yet some even if they do know they're wrong just like to kill or hurt for no real reason.

That's not normal.

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I never understood trying to rehab certain people. Some people just shouldn't be here anymore

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Someone like Charles Manson or Aileen Wuornos could have potentially been helped had people made the effort.

Someone like Ted Bundy was fucked beyond repair.

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Ving_Rhames posted...

Some people are broken beyond repair.

Agreed & serial killers definitely fit that.

They can get help, imo

Not all of them are bloodthirsty monsters. Some of them have triggers that can be worked out in a controlled environment. Controlled by them like never taking a walk alone at night. For example, if they only attacked people at night while they were walking around alone, bored. Then they see someone alone, and that triggers something in them that says, "if you go and kill that person, you will no longer be bored."

If that was the only thing that caused them to kill, then that's something they themselves can work out. It would take a very strong person, and someone that IS actually that way, or something similar, but I think it can be done.

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PrettyBoyFloyd posted...

Yet some even if they do know they're wrong just like to kill or hurt for no real reason.

That's not normal.

Yeah those people clearly dont repent lol

Hornswoggled posted...

I think the risks are too great to ever let a serial killer out of jail.

Whether they are "rehabilitated" or not, I think being a serial killer is something we don't have to forgive, and give people second chances for.

That wasn't the question. It wasn't a question of letting them out. If was if they can get help, mentally

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most serial killers are psychopaths, psychopathy (ASPD) isn't a mental illness and can't be "fixed". people often conflate it with psychosis, which is a mental illness and can actually be treated, but a psychopath isn't necessarily a psycho who hears voices compelling them to kill. a psychopath is an aberrant personality type lacking empathy or the ability to connect to others in a meaningful way, and you cant fix that; best you can do is teach them better ways to hide their abnormal personality.

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