Poll: Do you believe in pure evil? If so, do you think criminal punishment should be severe

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  1. #1
    Immortal Zandalarian Paladin's Avatar
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    [Study]Do you believe in pure evil? If so, you might prone more aggressive punishment

    Source: http://www.psypost.org/2015/05/study...ishments-34301

    Our belief in pure evil influences our feelings about capital punishment, finds a Kansas State University psychology study.

    Donald Saucier, associate professor of psychological sciences and 2015-2016 Coffman chair for distinguished teaching scholars, looked at how beliefs in pure evil influenced how people treated those who committed crimes. He recently completed the study with Russell Webster at St. Mary’s College of Maryland.

    Approximately 200 participants were given a summary of a case in which a murderer confessed to his crime. Researchers then asked each participant about his or her support for different types of sentences, such as jail time with community service, jail time with the opportunity for parole, jail time without the possibility for parole and other options.

    “We found that as people’s beliefs in pure evil increased, they were more likely to support sentences like life in prison without parole and even the death penalty,” Saucier said. “We found that this actually happened through our participants perceiving the murderer as a demon and feeling that there was some need for retribution for the murder committed.”

    Researchers then changed the murderer’s characteristics to be consistent with stereotypes about evil. These included having the murderer be interested in the occult, taunting neighborhood children and wearing all black. The characteristics also were changed so the murderer was less stereotypically evil. This included having the murderer be relatively quiet, having a family and being interested in camping.

    “People who saw the stereotypically evil person versus the non-stereotypically evil person recommended greater sentences,” Saucier said. “But, if they believed in pure evil, it didn’t matter the characteristics; they were more likely to support the death penalty or life in prison. The belief in pure evil overrode our stereotypically evil person.”

    This belief helps explain how opinions of others are formed during social interactions and how believing whether a person is “good” or “bad” at his or her core shapes those interactions.

    Moreover, it may help explain how a court jury or judge is likely to assign punishment for a crime. While a belief in pure evil probably would not prompt a guilty verdict, it may influence the jury’s sentence, Saucier said. For example, sentencing in the trials of Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev and Colorado movie theater shooter James Holmes could be influenced by jury members’ belief in pure evil.

    Saucier said it’s likely that life experience more than religion that influences a belief in pure evil. When investigating whether a religious upbringing was linked to a belief in pure evil, researchers found that people’s belief in pure evil didn’t necessitate a belief in pure good and vice versa.

    “This belief may change based on traumas, victimization and the celebrations of human success in our life,” Saucier said. “We think it’s a dynamic variable and influences our social interaction and social perceptions.”

    The study, “Demons are everywhere: The effects of belief in pure evil, demonization, and retribution on punishing criminal perpetrators,” appears in the scientific journal Personality and Individual Differences.

    The study builds on research Saucier and a former graduate student conducted to measure whether evil can be personified and whether a person perceived as completely evil could be rehabilitated. The study found that those who believe evil people exist believe the only resolution is to eliminate those evil people.

    Saucier is following up both studies by looking at how people who believe in pure evil and people who believe in pure good would punish the leaders of the Islamic State group.
    Do you believe in pure evil? Or do you think the reality is much more moderate than that? Maybe a bit of both?

    What's your take on this?
    Last edited by Zandalarian Paladin; 2016-05-05 at 12:26 AM.
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    What is "pure evil" even?

  3. #3
    Immortal Zandalarian Paladin's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mooneye View Post
    What is "pure evil" even?
    It could probably be defined as someone who is thoroughly evil; who is unable to do good.
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    The Insane Underverse's Avatar
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    Another unsurprising correlation from the social sciences.

    People are more willing to punish things that they disagree with more.

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    Titan I Push Buttons's Avatar
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    Don't believe in pure evil, do believe in harsh punishments.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Freedom4u2 View Post
    It could probably be defined as someone who is thoroughly evil; who is unable to do good.
    While I don't think that to be true, I do support harsh penalties, including the death penalty.

  7. #7
    I believe in Sweden, 1.5 years in prison for raping children.

  8. #8
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    genetical pychopathy is a thing

    coupled with bad parents/childhood you get a person that is completely beyond redemption and can only be locked away once he snaps

    that said I do believe in aggressive punishment, but not for the sake of punishment, but for the sake of containing threats

    6 time felons shouldn't be a thing

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    What about people that use good to propagate evil? Jimmy Saville for example.

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    Immortal Zandalarian Paladin's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Goit View Post
    What about people that use good to propagate evil? Jimmy Saville for example.
    Isn't using good for evil "manipulation"? Or otherwise attributable to evilness?
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    Quote Originally Posted by Morgaith View Post
    I believe in Sweden, 1.5 years in prison for raping children.
    What an utter joke. And here I think the death penalty should be applied to child rapists.

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    The Undying Cthulhu 2020's Avatar
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    Seems likely that justifying horrendous punishment (torture) would be far more likely if you saw someone as pure evil instead of just another human with different beliefs.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Taftvalue View Post
    genetical pychopathy is a thing
    Indeed, seems to manifest in people who think "pure evil" is an actual thing.
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  13. #13
    Yeah, I believe in pure evil and I definitely do support capital punishment. You don't murder another human in cold blood unless there's something inherently wrong with you, and it's not something silly resocialisation programs could ever fix. As such, "pure evil" people should be simply put down.
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    I am Murloc! zephid's Avatar
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    I believe in rehabilitation, not punishment.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Morgaith View Post
    I believe in Sweden, 1.5 years in prison for raping children.
    Incorrect.

  15. #15
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    Quote Originally Posted by zephid View Post
    Incorrect.
    Not incorrect, people have gotten off with community service for it too.

    http://www.st.nu/medelpad/sundsvall/...r-barnvaldtakt
    http://www.hoglandsnytt.se/han-visst...-for-valdtakt/
    Last edited by mmocfb6c003936; 2016-05-05 at 12:59 AM.

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    The Unstoppable Force Belize's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mooneye View Post
    What is "pure evil" even?
    People that don't put down the toilet seat.

  17. #17
    I Don't Work Here Endus's Avatar
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    It's a complete myth. Even Hitler had good sides; that doesn't make him any less a monster, but blaming his monstrosity on his being evil ignores the very human justifications he used to make those monstrous decisions.

    That doesn't mean anyone can be rehabilitated; there's an argument to be made for the death penalty but only in cases where guilt is beyond any doubt (not just a reasonable doubt; finding them over the body holding the murder weapon would not qualify, since you didn't see them actually use it), and the crime was so egregious, and rehabilitation is deemed psychologically impossible. And then, the only real justification is that it's a waste of the State's revenue to support this individual in their incarceration; it isn't about punishment at all.


  18. #18
    I am Murloc! zephid's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mooneye View Post
    Not incorrect, people have gotten off with community service for it too.

    http://www.st.nu/medelpad/sundsvall/...r-barnvaldtakt
    http://www.hoglandsnytt.se/han-visst...-for-valdtakt/
    And people have gotten away with murder as well, doesn't change what the law actually says. In the first article you linked the guy way 17 years old, which is the reason why he got such an light sentence. The guy in the second one was not convicted for rape in the first place, but they later changed it. I don't know why they didn't also change his sentence.

    The law is pretty clear if you actually read it.
    Last edited by zephid; 2016-05-05 at 01:06 AM.

  19. #19
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    Quote Originally Posted by zephid View Post
    And people have gotten away with murder as well, doesn't change what the law actually says.
    You said it was incorrect, it's not incorrect, which these links proves.

  20. #20
    Quote Originally Posted by Mooneye View Post
    What is "pure evil" even?
    Anyone here watch Game of Thrones? I would declare a fella like Ramsay Bolton has pure evil. Jeffery Dalmer would be my real person of evil. Unless we let him off with just being sick, which I guess could be used to excuse away a lot of evil things a person does.

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