Prison conversion may have saved Nichols

Originally posted by ivanhoe

It would also be wise to start an investigation into the truthfulness of his remorse and conversion.

.... maybe it turns out to be a remorseful man who deserved his life to be spared, or maybe he was just faking his remorse and had to convince the jurors of his alleged remorse, so he "converts" to Christianity.

If the man was spared simply becau ...[text shortened]... ecause he is showing remorse and his conversion to Christianity is merely confusing the issue.

I think you're confusing your self here.

The truthfulness of his conversion is only interesting if we think that the fact that the man is a christian should mean something to the penalty that he recieves. Up until now everybody (including your self I believe) have stated that the sentence should be independent of peoples religious beliefs.

The truthfulness of his remorse is only interesting in order to establish if he is capable of understanding the wrongfulness of his actions which in turn is only interesting in order to establish the prospects of his rehabilitation. As we are talking of two posible sentences under US law, death or life in prison, rehabilitation is probably not an issue.

Originally posted by Scheel
I think you're confusing your self here.

The truthfulness of his conversion is only interesting if we think that the fact that the man is a christian should mean something to the penalty that he recieves. Up until now everybody (includin ...[text shortened]... or life in prison, rehabilitation is probably not an issue.

Scheel: "Up until now everybody (including your self I believe) have stated that the sentence should be independent of peoples religious beliefs."

Yes, indeed.

Scheel: "I think you're confusing your self here"


I dont think so.
In order to establish whether his remorse is sincere there MIGHT be a chance that we also have to investigate the nature of his conversion. There MIGHT be a relation between the two. Having said that I do not abandon my position that his secular or religious convictions should not play a decisive role in deciding whether he's to live or to die.