Here in Belgium parole exists after 1/3th of your prison sentence has been served. It’s been made possible due to the law Lejeune. “ de wet Lejeune “ as we call it here.
In the Netherlands 2/3th of your sentence has to have been served before you can qualify for parole.
In the US, I hear it differs between federal prisons and other prisons.

Here in Belgium we look up to the US legislation.

Murder in the US means life sentence or execution in a lot of cases.
Here in Belgium a murderer is convicted to serve 30 years and he has to only serve 1/3th of that according to “ de wet Lejeune “.

Dutroux, the famous child murderer, was convicted to serve 110 years. After 15 years of prison time he was granted permission to request parole. It’s been 22 years since he was arrested for the horrible child murders and rapes he committed and fortunately until now his requests to be liberated conditionally, were all rejected. But his new lawyer has said he will make it his life task to have Dutroux liberated before 2021. He will have served 25 years by then.
For 4 child murders with rape, 2 kidnappings with rape, and the murder on his companion.
He will be 63 by then. Young enough to start again.
Dutroux has studied law in prison. Unfortunately he abuses his legal studies to be liberated early.
This person still has no sense of guilt for what he did. Still no remorses. And he will be in liberty in a few years from now.
Wouldn’t execution like in the US be cheaper for people like that?
Why paying their housing and food with tax payers money?
When a lethal injection is cheaper and more efficient?

Are you in favor of parole for murderers?

I personally am not.

Execution sounds best in my opinion. Cheap and efficient.
Someone who voluntarily took someone’s life without a motive of self-defense or defense of his loved ones, is a dangerous psychopathic person who will never be able to show compassion or remorse. Why should we keep someone like that alive when it costs us too much money that could be used for more useful projects like cancer research,... for people who actually deserve the money?

What is your opinion on parole for murderers?

PS : I put this topic under science and philosophy because law is a recognised science with philosophical and rhetoric influences.

I guess it depends. My exhusband had a friend who killed his dad. But his dad was mean to him. Everybody said he got what he deserved. His friend did about 2 years in jail.

Someone who takes a life without a motive of self-defense of himself / herself or people he / she loves, has no moral subconscious and will recidivate in my opinion.

Was it self-defense of that friend against the dad?

“ everyone said he was bad “ is only hearsay and not facts.

My dad worked with the guy. I think he was a drunk and abusive.

while there are certain circumstances to different cases one would have to be aware of before making a general call on all murders..even in the case that Eastowest described I mean in that case only two years as opposed to one always having the ability to walk away,there are just too many unknown circumstances to be able to make a judgement call..But generally speaking No I would not give a convicted murderer parole.

But you see there have been so many convictions overturned either through DNA or other circumstances like the person or persons lied and later told the truth..it sure would be hard to say that all murderers should be put to death..and it sure would be a bad thing to put someone to death who was later found to be innocent..there's just too many variables to make a judgement call that encompasses all cases ..

If you kill a poor person nobody really cares. A lot of murders around. We just don't think about it.

Sorry, no.. if we followed an eye for an eye, a lot of crimes might stop.

In my mine not for pre meditated murder

If you had the time to think it out, plan it then carry it out you deserve all that you got.

This thinking implies that a convinced murderer will always be a murderer.
If that is the case, rather than maintain that murderer in prison for a lifetime, why not just execute all convicted murderers?
Less burden on society to maintain them.

The reality is, sometimes a murderer can change and never murder again.
They can be productive members of society.
They can have true remorse for their actions.
There are extenuating circumstances.
There are times that the murder is justified but the evidence is used to convict and the reason for the murder is ignored or not important.
Plus, you have conviction of people that might be innocent.
Convictions that are overturned because new evidence later comes to light.

Not all murderers are serial killers.
Not all murderers are cold blooded killers.
Some murders happen in the heat of the moment.
Some murders happen because of emotional stress.

I know a man that caught his wife in bed with another man and he killed that man.
He spent 10 years in prison for murder and was released.
As far as I know, to this day, he has not murdered again.
He has since remarried and had kids and now has grandkids.
He works a full time job, pays taxes and is part of the society.

Some of the stories you mentioned above I too believe do not fit into a cold blooded killer profile and would not under what I was stating.

But, if the murder is pre meditated, thus planned and carried out with ample time to reconsider then that I feel is a major character flaw that many or many not be abe to be " corrected". Because the murder is in fact cold blooded and the murder knows full well beforehand that they are committing a capital offense.

I believe that those type people may very well kill again and I for one would not want them o on the street.

If you lock somebody away in a prison (or dungeon) for the rest of their lives, never to be in society again, why not just kill them and be done with it?
In essence, a lifetime prison sentence with no chance for parole is permanent removal but the prison has the burden of housing and caring for them for the rest of their lives.
Since prisons are mostly publicly funded via taxes, I am paying to maintain a murderer for the rest of his or her lifetime.

Its not about the morality of killing another human being.
Society kills other people on a regular basis, wars, poverty and starvation, sanctioned murder.

The reason murderers get paroled is because over time, people do change.
There are extenuating circumstances.
New evidence does come to light that does prove innocence.

I believe in parole.
I also believe that there should never be a life sentence with no possibility of parole.
Some convicted killers should be put to death.
There should never be a conviction with a punishment of multiple life sentences. If evidence and conditions are that positive for conviction, end them.

I live in Texas. We definitely have the highest execution rate of any state. It is not "cheap". The nearly endless appeals and special housing are EXPENSIVE.
In recent years, Texas has offered the option of "Life Without Parole". It has a number of advantages, such as no automatic appeals and housing in general population (still expensive but less so).

While I have no fundamental objection to the Death Penalty, I do have concerns about it's uneven application and the number of times an executed convict was later found to have been falsely convicted. Life Without Parole is a better choice.

At the risk of appearing off topic, I think we have a lot of people in prison who shouldn't be there. Our "War On Drugs" has turned into a war on ourselves. Most drug "crimes" are essentially victim-less. Most of the problems blamed on drugs are really a product of the laws against those drugs and the resultant high prices.

Parole for rapists and murderers?

No.


I am in favor of executing rapists and murderers.

No justice system is really well or 100% fool proof. That alone means I am not for death sentence.
I particularly don't like the US legal/justice system.
Take parole. The family of the one that got killed gets to say whether the person goes free or not?!?! WTF?
That is utterly ridiculous. If they can't deal with pain in life, your bleeped. If they hold a grudge, you're bleeped. Some people DO better their life you know, and there's also people who were very very young when they went in and came to see the light, who studied and worked their butts off. They won't ever harm anyone again, yet the family decides they have to go in for another 5 years? What bleeped up law system is that? That ain't justice.

Also look up what parole entails for a person, or watch "The Central Park Five" to find out. Parole in the US ain't justice either, it's hell, inhumane. And no wonder a person gets back into drug dealing or whatever. What choice does the parole system leave you? You can't even flip freaking burgers to make a living. You basically can't do anything.
A curfew for the rest of your life, a bleeped up parole house and officer. Not justice, insanity.

Parole for murderers or not would hinge entirely on the circumstances.
In cases like Dutroux there should no way be parole, not ever!
As for the rest, if someone has done their time and has proven themselves changed, they should get another fair chance at life. A decent life. Without curfew and chit like that. And the proving should not be done by family.
Of course no option for serial killers. Meaning back to the circumstances again.
Also no public system of where they live. That isn't justice either, but a living hell.

Not saying it's picture perfect over here but at least we don't have that crap.
Again urge you to watch "The Central Park Five". Look how these kid's lives -they were just teens playing in a park- were forever ruined.
4 got paroled after some 6-7 years -also hell- one didn't, and was beaten up badly time and again. A miracle he survived. If the real killer hadn't come forward after 11-12 years the kid would still be locked up, beaten, cut etc. etc. And he'd done nothing but play in a park with his mates...
That's one bleeped up legal system I would not want.

I would POSITIVELY pull the switch, release the trap door, push the injection or fire the fatal shot into the murderer or rapist, as ordered to.
That's a POSITIVE 10-4, good buddy.

To my knowledge you commit murder when you plan to take someone's life so no I don't agree to paroles for people like that.
Like Charles Manson and company.

Never proven that Charles Manson killed anyone.
He got life because of the socialites his followers killed.

'Despite being branded a murderer by the media and being remembered that way by the public over the half-century since, Charles Manson never actually killed anyone.