Is this the worst crime ever committed by a human being?

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http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... pital.html

Generally I'm the first to say we should be forgiving, and I do completely oppose the death penalty, but in this case I definitely think he deserves life in prison. Even genocide, while worse simply due to affecting more people, doesn't elicit the same kind of disgust.

Disturbing, but not the worst, sadly.

He should definitely spend the rest of his life in prison with no regard for his own safety. While there are worse crimes nothing is more disgusting than doing that to such a defenseless person. He should rot, I hope he lives a long life.

Stealing the peace of mind of another human being, making people feel insignificant and uncared for.

Sometimes I think we waste our time asking such questions. Quantity and quality will always be a struggle here anyway - ie. Mao Tsetung and BTK killed people in different manners - one killed far far far more people, the other took his victim's lives with much more artful and meticulous sadism.

Part of why I think it's the wrong question - I wish we asked the question more often "What's the ultimate act of kindness?" or "What kind of world would we live in if people looked after kindness as a strength, as a technology for humanity, and tried to figure out how many ways in their spare time or with spare energy they could love a fellow human being?".

Not to denigrate the OP question, just that it does seem like a convenient soapbox opportunity to bring that one up. Heck, when you think of it any one of us is an anti-Mao or anti-BTK in the making, ie. someone who can perform the equal and opposite in undoing the damage of a mass-murderer. It's the kind of food for thought that all too often sadly tends to be hidden on an obscure corner of the menu.

I don't think there is much point figuring out the worst crime . It is a horrific crime period/full stop.


There was one forensic psychiatrist that came up with a scale of evil. I think it was a flawed premise, but on the other had it didn't really measure evil, but characterize different offenders. So in that respect it could be useful, if it wasn't for the fact that being a scale and being subjective had limitations.

As a libertarian conservative and exponent of the death penalty I have indeed heard of more lamentable crimes, but this "life sentence" isn't even justifiable enough for this egregious and putrefactive creature.

Libertarian and Conservative are somewhat polar opposites. Just saying. It has become fashionable for people to call themselves libertarian, without fully grasping the ideology.

I suppose one argument in defense of freedom would be if it is harmful to other's freedom then there is just cause for laws against it.

However most democratic ideologies agree with that in the case of serious crimes.

I think the limitation would be the involvement of the person receiving the act, potential for reaching high numbers of people might be similar. True, a lot more evil can be done to a given person whose only passively involved because we have a very direct linkage of evil with pain and pain is something that jacks quite directly in the autonomic nervous system. With good we don't directly correlate it to pleasure - otherwise E's and heroin would be seen as wonderful things. Good seems akin to balance, harmony, healthy and productive living, and I suppose if someone teaches a person how to optimize their inner world or even attain states of ecstasy by their own efforts they've delivered something that could be akin but at the same time it definitely wasn't a passive delivery - in the later case the recipient had to do most of the work for themselves.

Like most people on here I think it isn't the worst ever but it's repulsive beyond comprehension and I don't care what anyone says I think he should be locked in a cell full of violent psychopaths who know what he did and the guards look the other way until they can't hear him scream.

Didn't read it. I prefer to let the tabloids die a swift death

Very beastly, bug Genghis Kahn did worse.

ruveyn

It's not saying much for this world that most of us have heard of worse individuals who have done worse things.