I have to say, this has to be out there for even him.

For those not from Australia, or know who he is. Just read the wiki on him.

Hmmm...

Well, obviously I can't say much about him, but he looks like a complete nut-job. Crazy picture. But then again, you'd have to be if you go on a killing-spree like that.

I don't think he should be simply 'allowed to die'. You guys don't have capital punishment (right?), so I guess he should just serve his sentence until death or live in an asylum. Do the crime, serve the time. It's that simple.

But, actually, looking back, perhaps he should be dead. I mean, he'll be spending the rest of his life there, and like Nitschke points out, it's sort of like eternal torture.

He is mentally disabled, and has a very low IQ, but amazingly managed to survive in society. That probably explains his odd looks.

Well said fuckhead.

Nope, the last time that was carried out was in 1966 I believe (even if people wanted to bring it back just for him).

But yeah, this isn't a simple case to deal with. On one hand you have people who feel this is giving the monster what it wants (i.e. to be free). On another it is true that the life he is leading would be hard to even define that way (i.e. a life). Yet...allowing him to die does leave give the impression that you are allowing it in cases like his (either someone who faces a life behind bars, or someone who is depressed).

Where did that come from?

:lol: Probably from your lack of tact.

Squato
Same, we don't have capital punishment either. Well, yeah, perhaps he should wait it out a bit longer. Maybe another 15 years or so? He's only served 11 years, and there are some car thieves which have probably served that amount of time. He's a spree-killer, and no amount of insanity pleas can change that.

But again, it's so difficult; you might as well just introduce capital punishment again if people start complaining that every criminal serving a life-sentence should be dead.

...and eternal torture is exactally what he deserves.

Doesn't seem very fair to "exhange" his life for the 35 that he took in the massacre...make the bastard serve the rest of his life in prison in absolute misery. That would be far more worse for him than if he was dead.
Can't be miserable if you're dead.

First off, you got it in one. :P

As to the other, that is another issue. If you allow people who are serving a sentence like his (life behind bars with no chance of being granted freedom) the chance to take their own life, then by definition you are allowing capital punishment (or at least a certain type).

So yeah, this is a hard one, but the more I think about it, the more I see this as a very bad idea which shouldn't be allowed.

I definitely support euthanasia, and it being extended to prisoners with multiple life sentences. Nothing can be achieved in keeping him in prison, and if he genuinely wants to die (and 6 suicide attempts in 11 years suggests he does) then I think he should have that right. I don't think people should have the right to choose if other people live or die, although obviously, as Nitschke says, there has to be very strong checks and regulations.

I also wanted to add that I don't think that photo is a very accurate one. The typical photos I've seen make him look like a pretty normal person. This is the picture that is used most often (in my opinion).

If someone is terminally ill, it's fucking cruel to force them to continue living at enormous cost to their family just as as to continue on in intense pain and misery for a few, unnatural months more. If they want to keep going anyways (few do), then by all means, allow them, but otherwise, respect the wishes of the dying. Similarly, if someone is in a comotose state without hope of coming out, what are we keeping them alive for? They're organic matter and you're forcing their organs to keep going when the brain is no longer capable of sending the signals. Stop clinging so greedily onto life, and don't be so selfish and stingy with the lives of others. Don't make them live in pain for your sake.

Who gives a flying fuck about what HE wants. The douche-bag KILLED 35 PEOPLE! I think that he deserves to be severely punished, and keeping him from killing himself is the only way that we can truely punish him.

35 people's blood on his hands, and he wants to get away from that? Hell no. He should die of old age...70-odd years of jail-time still doesn't even seem fair enough on the family of the dead.

Death for him is an escape, and I don't think anyone wants him to escape from his actions.

When you do something as terrible as that, you give up your right to decide your own fate.

It's a dilemma. One way of looking at it is that taking his own life equates escaping his life sentence, the very same as escaping prison. But on the other hand, is there a difference in a prisoner with a life sentence dying of natural causes and committing suicide? If not, you would assume his sentence is for life, so it ends with his death, by whatever means.

As for euthanasia, it should be an inalienable right of all free people. That physician-assisted suicide is illegal in most states is a disgrace to our nation.

It's the same in most nations around the world. So what happened in the NT doesn't really make Australia all that special.