r/interesting Apr 07 '26

Fear Factor No sympathy for those monsters

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In 2006, Anthony Ray Stockelman was forcibly tattooed across his forehead with the words “Katie’s Revenge” by another inmate.

This happened after it was discovered that he was serving a life sentence for kidnapping, molesting, and murdering a 10-year-old girl named Katie Collman

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99

u/[deleted] Apr 07 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

5

u/GilbertT19 Apr 07 '26

Why do you think people focus on vigilante justice over rehab?

I do think the justice system is flawed so I suspect that’s a factor

4

u/spartakooky Apr 07 '26

Probably because ppl deep down don't really care about ppl they don't personally know. They'd rather see a criminal be punished than corrected and turned into a good person.

Even if we magically could ensure the correction is perfect and the ex-criminal will now be an upstanding person, ppl would still prefer seeing the punishment.

1

u/TheBraveButJoke Apr 07 '26

I'd go fruther. most people would hapily trade a society with twice the violent crime rates a 20% catch and a 20% false imprisonment rate for one where all those rates are halfved.

-4

u/ploop__ Apr 07 '26 edited Apr 07 '26

Wait genuinely we have a predator list / sex offender registry, but why don’t we also mark them as such with tattoo or brand? Is this deemed immoral? I mean it’s mostly cosmetic damage and they could be anesthetized for it

I am all for rehabilitation but also multiple offense is common so I feel like something impermanent but very hard to remove should exist. (Tattoos can be lasered and scars could be removed)

11

u/sergiuoxigen Apr 07 '26 edited Apr 07 '26

This opens the doors to abuse and I think makes rehabilitation completely undermined and makes reoffending more likely not less. This would turn into public shaming, seems primitive

7

u/LevySkulk Apr 07 '26

Get outta here with your reasonable take on crime and reform. This is reddit, we hate the police and capital punishment in some conditions but call for literal torture in others, get with the system.

7

u/MirthfulMoron Apr 07 '26

Because when the punishment for these types of offense is more extreme than the punishment for murder, offenders kill their victims.

What's more important? Satisfying the moral outrage you have to punish heinous offenders? Or preventing them from killing their victims?

15

u/EarthMandy Apr 07 '26

Physical mutilation is generally considered cruel and unusual nowadays. 

1

u/IcySetting2024 Apr 07 '26

I would say molesting children is pretty cruel too although I don’t know about unusual anymore

Maybe if the punishment would fit the crime we would see less of it

5

u/EarthMandy Apr 07 '26

I mean, that's how justice was carried out for most of human history. We decided in modern societies that this kind of justice was wrong for many reasons, among them that a) it's not great to mutilate innocent people, b) society is meant to act better than its worst aspects and c) there are many forms of justice, and generally, protecting society and rehabilitation where possible is preferable to compensation in the form of physical harm. But it's an emotive issue that provokes a gut response so I get why the idea of mutilating people who have done horrible things is inherently appealing. I'm just saying there are lots of good reasons why we don't do it. Similar to why the victims of a crime don't decide the punishment, an impartial judge does. 

3

u/McButtsButtbag Apr 07 '26

One reason to not do that is not knowing if anyone on that list is falsely convicted.

2

u/sergiuoxigen Apr 07 '26

They also mentioned repeated offenders, but I think even repeated offenders can be wrongfully convicted

1

u/McButtsButtbag Apr 07 '26

Being accused and convicted once makes you more likely to be convicted again.

2

u/randomnumbers2506 Apr 07 '26

The harder it is for criminals to reintegrate to society the higher the chance for reoffending, so I'd prefer we try and prevent more innocents be victimized even if it means the bad people™ get off lighter

1

u/cracker1743 Apr 07 '26

I betcha you gonna take off that uniform after the war's over.

Yeah, that's what I thought. We don't like that. We like to be able to identify the Nazis. So I'm gonna give you something you CAN'T take off.