Should murderers /rapist be sent to fight ?

Question

We send good decent men to die on the front line of war....why not clear our prisons of the worst criminals....and let the Ric there lives or redeem them self's on the battle front !

Answer 1

Look at vietnam when they did that. They would just go around raping and steeling stuff.

Answer 2

I agree with "Shade", and lol @ "Kimi"!

If they can demonstrate remorse for their crime and it's what they want to do to make up for it and become better people then why not?

Answer 3

No, they couldn't be trusted at all. It would also give them an opportunity to escape. I say throw away the key.

Answer 4

What is the proof that they will actually fight? If they were the worst in prison, there is a possibility that they have no loyalty to the country that they would be fighting for or the feel to actually go and fight for the country that imprisoned them.

Answer 5

I say: don't send them through ANY training or give them ANY guns, just drop them out of a helicopter right in the middle of unfriendly fire!  That way, they are serving us by giving us cover and justice is being served on their sorry as@es!

Answer 6

Probably not...they'd rape and murder their own...

Most criminals aren't too brights.

Answer 7

Why not, they are no use to society in prison, only a financial liability, so they could serve their sentence serving their country, and if they survive tours of duty in war zones, they could receive an honorable discharge, with the length of their prison term reduced.

Answer 8

what a good idea :) i agree

Answer 9

Sure! I'm all for putting some criminals in the armed forces. Who knows, the armed forces might even straighten a few of them out, and bring them away from their gangs/criminal associates, and make them do something productive for society.

Answer 10

Would you give a gun to a guy who stole your car? Or raped/killed your friend?

Answer 11

No. They can escape.

Answer 12

They wouldn't make terrible good army cadets

Answer 13

No. They used to clear out prisons during wars to send the prisoners to wars and it never worked.

On the one hand, you may think that having prisoners have the chance to redeem themselves is a noble aim.

On the other hand, if you look at the sort of things that troops have been up to in Iraq like taking pictures of themselves torturing prisoners, etc, and ask yourself what sort of things would happen if these were the most violent prisoners taken from prisons.

Basically, when they used to use people from prisons in armies then the whole army was a mess and discipline had to be very tight. A lot of people have romantic images of old battles but what really happened was the army would ravage the countryside for supplies, and when a town fell the soldiers would indulge in raping pillaging and looting.

If you want to go sent the most violent prisoners to the front line, then you either need to have almost as many military police ready to arrest them for breaking the rules of war, or else accept that the army has no purpose apart from killing enemy soldiers and battering the country into submission with no regard for the civilian population.

Answer 14

There are a few flaws with that idea:

1.  We have an all volunteer military.  People in the military are there because they want to be which means they are motivated to learn and willing to be trained.  I don't think you could say the same for the types you described.

2.  Why the h**l would anyone give an automatic weapon to a murderer?  Why would anyone put a rapist on the loose where he could target innocent civilians in a foreign land?

A good pipe dream but not realistic at all.

Answer 15

Why not send the rich who start the Wars? Like the directors of the large oil companies who are reaping the benifits of the Iraq War or George Bush who started the Iraq war on false pretences.

Answer 16

News Flash.  You don't send anyone anywhere.  They volunteer.  Would you want a murderer or rapist covering your back?  I think not.  

USAF Veteran

Answer 17

No they would just get away. I think we should behead them clean and simple...well sorta clean.