Well since the hug-a-thug crowd won't let us execute those who deserve it any more I have an idea how we can have our cake and not kill it too. The chemical MPTP, when injected into a person in sufficent amouts causes a state of total imobility, like total parkinsons disease, or to quote wikipedia "MPTP (1 methyl 4 phenyl 1,2,3,6 tetrahydropyridine) is a neurotoxin that causes permanent symptoms of Parkinson's disease by killing certain neurons in the substantia nigra of the brain. When injected the prisoner cannot move under their own power, but besides that, are alive and healthy, so when someone is given a "death" sentence, we just shoot them up, store them somewhere (much cheaper then the Club Fed prisions we have now) and if on the off chance the prisoner is found to be not guilty we simply inject them with L-Dopa and they jump back to life, no fuss, no muss, and imagine the money we'll save.
-- Hirudinea, Jun 15 2009

Wikipedia: MPTP http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MPTP
[jutta, Jun 16 2009]

Wikipedia: L-DOPA http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Levodopa
[jutta, Jun 16 2009]

NY Times health guide on treating parkinson symptoms with L-DOPA http://health.nytim...adopa-(l-dopa).html
General background. [jutta, Jun 16 2009]

Good 'ole Barry Kidston http://www.scq.ubc....parkinsons-disease/
[normzone, Jun 17 2009]

...multiple consecutive 100-year sentences with no possibility for parole... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samir_Kuntar
response to [21 Quest] [pashute, Apr 04 2013]

Sounds like the perfect option for brutal countries like Iran, North Korea, China, and of course the USA, where executions are common place.

I'm afraid I'm one of the "bleeding hearts", who comes with a small fish.
-- xenzag, Jun 15 2009


//won't let us execute those who deserve it// ...right.
-- loonquawl, Jun 16 2009


Don't think you'll get many buns on this one. The "bleeding hearts" will vote against it for the same reasons they oppose capital punishment. The - what's the opposite of bleeding heart? Non-bleeding heart? Stone heart? - anyway, they'll vote against it for the same reasons they support capital punishment.
-- snoyes, Jun 16 2009


Making sufferers of late-stadium Parkinson's Disease - however it was induced - "jump back to life, no fuss, no muss" with a mere L-DOPA injection is absurd.

The disease kills neurons involved with dopamine uptake, it doesn't just deplete the level of dopamine. The L-DOPA, which is converted into dopamine after (and, unfortunately, before) moving into the brain, turns into extra helpings of the stuff that there are fewer receptors for. But that only takes you so far, for a few years, until the side effects and habituation effects catch up with you.
-- jutta, Jun 16 2009


// what's the opposite of bleeding heart?//

A sociopath ...
-- Aristotle, Jun 17 2009


Seems to me that life in an ordinary prison accomplishes the same end as this. Felon never endangers society again, but isn't actually killed. Except if it turns out he is innocent, they just let him out, no messing around with questionable neurosurgery.
-- Bad Jim, Jun 17 2009


From Wikipedia:

"Leeches are annelids comprising the subclass Hirudinea"

I was expecting "virtual death" to be cutting off someone's internet access for life.
-- normzone, Jun 17 2009


In. hu. MANE!
-- daseva, Jun 17 2009


One problem with "life in prison" or variants thereof is that there's no guarantee that some future governor won't decide the guy has "suffered enough".
-- supercat, Jun 17 2009


But there is no guarantee with this method either.
-- Bad Jim, Jun 17 2009


Hopefully not. But if I had a penny for every time a civil servant completely ignored the rules I'd be a rich man.
-- Bad Jim, Jun 17 2009


[Hirudinea] has much faith is the efficacy of the legal system.
-- wagster, Jun 17 2009


wouldn't be any cheaper: you'd need people to constantly monitor their conditions, turn them over to avoid bedsores, change their plumbing, etc. etc. etc.
-- FlyingToaster, Apr 04 2013


I'm opposed to the death penalty for a number of reasons: First of all, it's not an effective deterrent for others. Second, in the US, it's quite expensive, considering the state-born costs of appeals, often well over a million dollars. Ultimately, it's possible, and has happened, that an innocent person can be convicted of a capital crime and executed.
-- whlanteigne, Apr 06 2013


I'm opposed to the death penalty too but i just wanted to say that I expected this to be to do with cutting off internet access for life as a punishment, which again has been baked in SF since the 'fifties believe it or not. I decided to comment because this other idea, which this isn't, is itself an increasingly severe penalty and i can imagine it eventually amounting to capital punishment of sorts. Iain M Banks's, and doubtless many others' but let's mention him because of the recent depressing news, has people in the Culture back themselves up in whatever the Culture's equivalent to the internet would be in case they are killed - they can then be recreated from - hold on, i'm getting an idea.
-- nineteenthly, Apr 06 2013


//cutting off internet access for life as a punishment What! <faints in horror...>

Well, a choice of two. 1) capitol punishment, where you have to go live there and put with all the politicians, lobbyists, over-priced housing etc. 2) capitals punishment, where you get internet access but you can only type IN CAPITALS, SO A VIRTUAL SENDING TO COVENTRY IS MORE OR LESS ASSURED.

Apologies for all those capitals.
-- not_morrison_rm, Apr 06 2013



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