Poll: another ethics question: would you rather kill an innocent man or let a mass murderer loose?

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Auron225

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Oct 26, 2009
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So... I don't have a shread of evidence that this guy is guilty? Let him go - I don't take a life on gut instinct because I'm not a freaking psychopath.
 

Moderated

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May 12, 2012
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The problem is that the question in OP isn't the same in the title.
A better situation would be there is a set of identical twins, one is a mass murderer the other is innocent. There is no way to know which is which, would you hang them both or let them both free?
 

mitchell271

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Little Woodsman said:
mitchell271 said:
Neither. I throw him in a cell, I use a thing called due process.

Little Woodsman said:
I would hang him immediately to help cover up the fact that I am the real killer!
We have a confession! Time for a good, old fashioned lynching!
You'll never take me un-fainted! Bonemerang attack!
Calvin is hit with Bonemerang! Little Woodsman feels terrible for hurting a 6 year old!
Calvin launches vicious, man eating tiger!
 

Saelune

Trump put kids in cages!
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Mar 8, 2011
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I was expecting a more Batman scenario with like, an innocent tied above a vat of acid as the villain makes his escape.

This is clearly "do you jump to conclusions, or don't" and there is only one right answer, let him go....feel free to investigate and question the man though. Not like you have to turn your backs to him after giving him a gun and just hope he doesn't kill you.
 

Ieyke

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Jul 24, 2008
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If it were "kill this innocent man to guarantee a mass murderer doesn't escape" then sure, I'd kill him.

But this isn't that.
This is "kill a random guy on the off-chance he's a mass-murderer, because you live in a town of suspicious fuckheads that think that's what he is", which is a completely retarded scenario.


By that logic I should just execute everyone without a solid alibi, just in case, and then myself because clearly I'm a mass-murderer too.


I have zero hesitation is executing people who earned it, and I have no problem sacrificing one person to saves many......but just randomly picking someone and claiming they're guilty with no evidence at all, and no guarantee that it will solve anything....that's just moronic.
 

Dragonbums

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May 9, 2013
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I mean, if the man was innocent, that means that the mass murder is still out there murdering people. So either way the outcome is exactly the same.
 

nyankaty

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Nov 4, 2013
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I'd let the murderer go, then track him down and kill him myself. No big deal. :) I would never kill an innocent person but I could always stalk him around and see if he's really the killer, if I cared that much.
 

Little Woodsman

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Nov 11, 2012
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mitchell271 said:
Little Woodsman said:
mitchell271 said:
Neither. I throw him in a cell, I use a thing called due process.

Little Woodsman said:
I would hang him immediately to help cover up the fact that I am the real killer!
We have a confession! Time for a good, old fashioned lynching!
You'll never take me un-fainted! Bonemerang attack!
Calvin is hit with Bonemerang! Little Woodsman feels terrible for hurting a 6 year old!
Calvin launches vicious, man eating tiger!
I feel absolutely no remorse for that Bonemerang attack, six-year-old boys are always trying to stuff me in to little balls...
Ice Beam!
 

mitchell271

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Sep 3, 2010
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Little Woodsman said:
mitchell271 said:
Little Woodsman said:
mitchell271 said:
Neither. I throw him in a cell, I use a thing called due process.

Little Woodsman said:
I would hang him immediately to help cover up the fact that I am the real killer!
We have a confession! Time for a good, old fashioned lynching!
You'll never take me un-fainted! Bonemerang attack!
Calvin is hit with Bonemerang! Little Woodsman feels terrible for hurting a 6 year old!
Calvin launches vicious, man eating tiger!
I feel absolutely no remorse for that Bonemerang attack, six-year-old boys are always trying to stuff me in to little balls...
Ice Beam!
Calvin equips winter clothes! They're toasty warm and defend against Ice Beam!
Calvin transforms into Spaceman Spiff and gets into his spaceship. Which suddenly crashes for no good reason. Spaceman Spiff unintentionally uses Explosion!
 

Aesir23

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Jul 2, 2009
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I'd let him go but I would hang Bill the Baker down the road for ogling my wife/husband/wifband/bearmanpig and frame him for the murders.
 

Heronblade

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Apr 12, 2011
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This question would be a heck of a lot more interesting if for whatever weird reason you had to choose whether or not you kill two individuals together, one you know is innocent and one you know is guilty.

Or at the very least, give us a suspect that has some substantial chance of actually being the killer, rather than just adopting an ironic "kill the shifty looking people until the killing stops" approach.
 

DementedSheep

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Jan 8, 2010
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In that situation I would definitely let the guy go or at the very least want to imprison him for a while as it is investigated which would probably be necessary for his own protection anyway rather than jumping straight to executing him. There is no evidence at all. Even when there is no modern forensics there are still things you can do beyond just killing every poor bloke who arrived around the time a crime happened or looks a bit shifty. What would you do next if it wasn't him? might as well hang the whole town if your criteria is that loose.
 

Olas

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Dec 24, 2011
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I believe in innocent until proven guilty.

And while there is a gray area as to what can be considered "proven" this doesn't come anywhere near it.
 

Little Woodsman

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Nov 11, 2012
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mitchell271 said:
Little Woodsman said:
mitchell271 said:
Little Woodsman said:
mitchell271 said:
Neither. I throw him in a cell, I use a thing called due process.

Little Woodsman said:
I would hang him immediately to help cover up the fact that I am the real killer!
We have a confession! Time for a good, old fashioned lynching!
You'll never take me un-fainted! Bonemerang attack!
Calvin is hit with Bonemerang! Little Woodsman feels terrible for hurting a 6 year old!
Calvin launches vicious, man eating tiger!
I feel absolutely no remorse for that Bonemerang attack, six-year-old boys are always trying to stuff me in to little balls...
Ice Beam!
Calvin equips winter clothes! They're toasty warm and defend against Ice Beam!
Calvin transforms into Spaceman Spiff and gets into his spaceship. Which suddenly crashes for no good reason. Spaceman Spiff unintentionally uses Explosion!
Gah! I use Dig to get underground & be sheltered from the explosion!
 

mitchell271

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Sep 3, 2010
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Little Woodsman said:
mitchell271 said:
Little Woodsman said:
mitchell271 said:
Little Woodsman said:
mitchell271 said:
Neither. I throw him in a cell, I use a thing called due process.

Little Woodsman said:
I would hang him immediately to help cover up the fact that I am the real killer!
We have a confession! Time for a good, old fashioned lynching!
You'll never take me un-fainted! Bonemerang attack!
Calvin is hit with Bonemerang! Little Woodsman feels terrible for hurting a 6 year old!
Calvin launches vicious, man eating tiger!
I feel absolutely no remorse for that Bonemerang attack, six-year-old boys are always trying to stuff me in to little balls...
Ice Beam!
Calvin equips winter clothes! They're toasty warm and defend against Ice Beam!
Calvin transforms into Spaceman Spiff and gets into his spaceship. Which suddenly crashes for no good reason. Spaceman Spiff unintentionally uses Explosion!
Gah! I use Dig to get underground & be sheltered from the explosion!
Spaceman Spiff is hurt by recoil/whiplash! Spaceman Spiff is confused! Spaceman Spiff thinks using his Proto-bombs will drag you out of your hole! He causes a small, localized earthquake that has no effect.
 

Mossberg Shotty

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Jan 12, 2013
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I realize that this hypothetical scenario is before forensics were around, but I would at least need something. At least some little piece of evidence, maybe a witness who testifies to seeing him do whatever terrible crime my mind can conjure up?

A human life can't be taken on mere assumptions.
 

Vylox

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May 3, 2013
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I am going to opt out of the scenario itself. Though the stranger according to the scenario is innocent, because he/she showed up in town AFTER the deaths, not before.

I would rather let a serial killer roam free. They generally are pretty intelligent and have a specific agenda and target group. Few are omnivores, so society can live with them.
 

Little Woodsman

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Nov 11, 2012
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mitchell271 said:
Little Woodsman said:
mitchell271 said:
Little Woodsman said:
mitchell271 said:
Little Woodsman said:
mitchell271 said:
Neither. I throw him in a cell, I use a thing called due process.

Little Woodsman said:
I would hang him immediately to help cover up the fact that I am the real killer!
We have a confession! Time for a good, old fashioned lynching!
You'll never take me un-fainted! Bonemerang attack!
Calvin is hit with Bonemerang! Little Woodsman feels terrible for hurting a 6 year old!
Calvin launches vicious, man eating tiger!
I feel absolutely no remorse for that Bonemerang attack, six-year-old boys are always trying to stuff me in to little balls...
Ice Beam!
Calvin equips winter clothes! They're toasty warm and defend against Ice Beam!
Calvin transforms into Spaceman Spiff and gets into his spaceship. Which suddenly crashes for no good reason. Spaceman Spiff unintentionally uses Explosion!
Gah! I use Dig to get underground & be sheltered from the explosion!
Spaceman Spiff is hurt by recoil/whiplash! Spaceman Spiff is confused! Spaceman Spiff thinks using his Proto-bombs will drag you out of your hole! He causes a small, localized earthquake that has no effect.
Actually earthquake attack effects are doubled on pokemon who are using dig when they hit, so the earthquake jettisons Little Woodsman out of the ground, where he groggily uses his Bone Club as a support to try to lever himself to his feet...
(This is seriously fun, but it's also seriously off-topic....if we want to continue we should make a thread in Forum Games & move over there & invite everyone to join in)