Would-be Reagan assassin John Hinckley Jr. to be freed after 35 years

The episode "In Control" (S01E04) of FX's The Americans was about Reagan's assassination attempt. It's what made me a fan of the show.

The husband & wife (of the "Illegals Program") believe that Al "I'm in charge here" Haig is staging a coup - and in case of a coup attempt against the US Government, the two KGB agents have standing orders to launch something called "Operation Christopher", which is basically designed to start a quick, violent and random guerilla war to further de-stabilize things.

The FBI, on their side of things, also over react by assuming Hinckley is KGB. Whether or not you like the show, I think this episode alone is worth a watch.
 
Chesten_Hesten said:
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Seriously he should be transferred to a regular federal prison for the rest of his life.
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35 years is a very stiff sentence for attempted murder anyways.

The guy was mentally ill. If he's no longer a threat, I'm glad we're no longer subsidizing punishing a man who no longer exists.
 
Trotsky said:
35 years is a very stiff sentence for attempted murder anyways.

The guy was mentally ill. If he's no longer a threat, I'm glad we're no longer subsidizing punishing a man who no longer exists.
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Glad you're glad but:

Attempted murder on a President. People have gone longer for less. "Mentally Ill" Whatever. Put him in regular Federal Prison, the waste of money was putting him in psychiatric prison.
 
Chesten_Hesten said:
Glad you're glad but:

Attempted murder on a President. People have gone longer for less. "Mentally Ill" Whatever. Put him in regular Federal Prison, the waste of money was putting him in psychiatric prison.
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I'm guessing you've never had family or friends go through serious psychiatric illness. It's a hell unlike any other not being able to trust your own brain not to betray or hurt you and being malleable to the designs of other people and forces. To put a man that gravely ill into a heinous and brutal prison population would be cruel and unusual to a tee. America's caveman-like obsession with punitive incarceration instead of the highly-successful and more tax-effective rehabilitation regimes abroad is a microcosm of what's wrong with this country.
 
IMO all would-be assassins of major political figures should be executed. A harsh message must be sent.
 
Trotsky said:
I'm guessing you've never had family or friends go through serious psychiatric illness. It's a hell unlike any other not being able to trust your own brain not to betray or hurt you and being malleable to the designs of other people and forces. To put a man that gravely ill into a heinous and brutal prison population would be cruel and unusual to a tee. America's caveman-like obsession with punitive incarceration instead of the highly-successful and more tax-effective rehabilitation regimes abroad is a microcosm of what's wrong with this country.
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It would have been far less cruel to just execute the scumbag.
 
Devout Pessimist said:
It would have been far less cruel to just execute the scumbag.
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If you want a state that automatically kills its citizens instead of considering context or adjudicating their situation, then sure. Small government, am I right? Gotta love that liberty.
 
Trotsky said:
I'm guessing you've never had family or friends go through serious psychiatric illness. It's a hell unlike any other not being able to trust your own brain not to betray or hurt you and being malleable to the designs of other people and forces. To put a man that gravely ill into a heinous and brutal prison population would be cruel and unusual to a tee. America's caveman-like obsession with punitive incarceration instead of the highly-successful and more tax-effective rehabilitation regimes abroad is a microcosm of what's wrong with this country.
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It isn't necessary that we agree. Won't change either one of us. But for the sake of argument:

Guy tried to kill the President of the United States. Crazy or not, for society's sake, either lock him away or execute him.

Besides, there's mentally ill, and then there's mentally ill in the legal sense, the first I believe is what you're actually talking about, the latter is what this guy's lawyers used to get him a lesser sentence than he should have got in the first place.
 
Trotsky said:
If you want a state that automatically kills its citizens instead of considering context or adjudicating their situation, then sure. Small government, am I right? Gotta love that liberty.
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What is there to consider? The degenerate tried to kill the President of the USA. Send him straight to hell.
 
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Trotsky said:
If you want a state that automatically kills its citizens instead of considering context or adjudicating their situation, then sure. Small government, am I right? Gotta love that liberty.
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The US now uses drones to whack US citizens without much due process at all. Hinckley was caught red handed.
 
Chesten_Hesten said:
It isn't necessary that we agree. Won't change either one of us. But for the sake of argument:

Guy tried to kill the President of the United States. Crazy or not, for society's sake, either lock him away or execute him.

Besides, there's mentally ill, and then there's mentally ill in the legal sense, the first I believe is what you're actually talking about, the latter is what this guy's lawyers used to get him a lesser sentence than he should have got in the first place.
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As someone who has worked in criminal defense, it's EXTREMELY hard to get a verdict of Not Guilty by Reason of Insanity. It's pretty much exclusively reserved for very sick people. Heck, Missouri just this year executed a man who had suffered a brain injury in a wood mill that gave him the judgment of a 12 year old and who, at the time of his execution, thought that he was a future world famous Christian gospel singer who God would save from the needle. Very sad.

Chesten_Hesten said:
The US now uses drones to whack US citizens without much due process at all. Hinckley was caught red handed.
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I certainly agree that the administration's use of drones is reprehensible as well.

Devout Pessimist said:
What is there to consider? The degenerate tried to kill the President of the USA. Send him straight to hell.
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The fact that he's very mentally ill and that executing madmen has been outlawed as morally outrageous for literally hundreds of years? And no civilized countries in the world still execute for crimes other than murder anyways.

Seriously, what kind of medieval anti-intellectual are you? I can't fucking stand reactionaries who pretend to have principle but really just want reality to bend to their liking and not have any nuance at all. What an idiotic piece of scum you are.
 
This is really suspect

releasing a would be presidential assassin during an election year

how this guy was able to get so close to security in the first place is also highly suspicious a man who is "insane" as they put it would have no conscious ability to plan such a premeditated attack then execute it to such a degree.
 
I guess if tmz catches him out with Jodie Foster it was all worth it.
 
Trotsky said:
The fact that he's very mentally ill and that executing madmen has been outlawed as morally outrageous for literally hundreds of years? And no civilized countries in the world still execute for crimes other than murder anyways.

Seriously, what kind of medieval anti-intellectual are you? I can't fucking stand reactionaries who pretend to have principle but really just want reality to bend to their liking and not have any nuance at all. What an idiotic piece of scum you are.
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I don't care what excuses you make for criminal behavior or what names you call me. If someone tries to assassinate a country's leader the punishment should be execution.
 
Devout Pessimist said:
I don't care what excuses you make for criminal behavior or what names you call me. If someone tries to assassinate a country's leader the punishment should be execution.
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Well then, if you don't care, then I'll just state the obvious: you're an idiot. The flaws in your logic have been ingrained in Western law since 1843, when a man tried to assassinate a public figure because he was insane.
 
Trotsky said:
Well then, if you don't care, then I'll just state the obvious: you're an idiot. The flaws in your logic have been ingrained in Western law since 1843, when a man tried to assassinate a public figure because he was insane.
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No doubt he was insane. Sane people don't try to assassinate public figures. The fact that the dude is insane is all the more reason to end his life. Why keep someone who is a dangerous threat to human life alive?
 
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