Moral dilemma - conjoined twin is a murderer

[UniqueMixture]

To the OP: I just think of complicity to the crime. Surely the other twin could have done something to stop it...?


Every time I think of conjoined twins, I think of what I perceive pervs think about. It's like I have a pervy alter ego conscience.

So do you pervs think what I think you think? Or not.

The murderer head has to blow his cell mate?

 

[Pseudo]

See, that's why the discussion is perfectly suited to a thread in TypologyCentral.


Exactly; well summed.

Likely, but not necessarily. The other brother could be tricked and/or distracted.

The murderous conjoined twin could not kill the innocent twin without also killing itself. The murderous twin could not use the threat of death to coerce the innocent twin into going along with the mudwr unless the murderous twin was suicidal as well as homicidal.


I suppose if it were me I would sentence them to around the clock monitoring and denial of luxuries to the guilty twin. As prison like as possible without affecting the life of the other twin. A complicated and elaborate punishment but I think plausible given the number of times this would occur. Basically it would allow the innocent twin to continue life without the threat of their twin hurting more innocent people. Two armed guards with a night and day shift. Maybe don't allow tem to read, or write letters. Blindfolds and noise canceling headphones if the other twin want to watch and movie or have company.

 

[Rasofy]

I don't understand conjoined twins. Who controls the body?

Both. I had in mind something like that:

The Abby+Brittany case is a bit different, as each one controls one arm and one leg:

 

[Rasofy]

The murderous conjoined twin could not kill the innocent twin without also killing itself. The murderous twin could not use the threat of death to coerce the innocent twin into going along with the mudwr unless the murderous twin was suicidal as well as homicidal.


I suppose if it were me I would sentence them to around the clock monitoring and denial of luxuries to the guilty twin. As prison like as possible without affecting the life of the other twin. A complicated and elaborate punishment but I think plausible given the number of times this would occur. Basically it would allow the innocent twin to continue life without the threat of their twin hurting more innocent people. Two armed guards with a night and day shift. Maybe don't allow tem to read, or write letters. Blindfolds and noise canceling headphones if the other twin want to watch and movie or have company.

That was pretty good. I've contemplated the blindfold punishment as well.

 

[Pseudo]

Both. I had in mind something like that:

The Abby+Brittany case is a bit different, as each one of them controls one arm and one leg:

Those Siamese guys (if they are the famous siamese twins im thinking of) were actually sepperable.

Ashely and Brittany are different. That situation again makes me wonder how a mudwr would even be possible. You couldn't sedate the twin, you couldn't acquire a weapon or travel without their knowledge.

 

[Rasofy]

Ashely and Brittany are different. That situation again makes me wonder how a mudwr would even be possible. You couldn't sedate the twin, you couldn't acquire a weapon or travel without their knowledge.

A: ''Hey sis, let's go to the kitchen and get some food.''
B: ''Great.''
*A gets a sharp knife out of the drawer*
B: What's that for, sis?
A: Self defense. I think a dangerous guy has been following us.
B: Eh??
A: Yep. Trust me.
B: Well, it's not like I have a choice. Ok, then.

 

[Pseudo]

A: ''Hey sis, let's go to the kitchen and get some food.''
B: ''Great.''
*A gets a sharp knife out of the drawer*
B: What's that for, sis?
A: Self defense. I think a dangerous guy has been following us.
B: Eh??
A: Yep. Trust me.
B: Well, it's not like I have a choice. Ok, then.

No I don't think so.

B: what are you talking Bout no one has been following us I have been with you ever single second of every day of your life and I know what you are saying is false.
A: shut up and come this way.
B: not until you explain the knife ... Is this about x event? I'm not walking until you put that knife down.

Probably even something like

B: I can feel that our pulse is elevated. What is going on??

 

[Siúil a Rúin]

Isn't there a general principle, even within the law, that it is better to let a guilty person go free than to punish an innocent person? It is a difficult question because there isn't a "right" answer, but I think the punishment would have to be limited to preventing further murders while minimizing the punishment towards the innocent individual. This may mean that the guilty one gets an "unfair" degree of leniency, but the alternative is the greater of the two evils.

Edit: I am approaching this based on the assumptions that one twin is clearly guilty and the other clearly innocent, because even if it hasn't happened in reality, it is a philosophical and hypothetical exploration.

 

[Rasofy]

No I don't think so.

B: what are you talking Bout no one has been following us I have been with you ever single second of every day of your life and I know what you are saying is false.
A: shut up and come this way.
B: not until you explain the knife ... Is this about x event? I'm not walking until you put that knife down.

Probably even something like

B: I can feel that our pulse is elevated. What is going on??

Well, that's much more likely, I'll give you that.

Isn't there a general principle, even within the law, that it is better to let a guilty person go free than to punish an innocent person?

Yes.

It is a difficult question because there isn't a "right" answer, but I think the punishment would have to be limited to preventing further murders while minimizing the punishment towards the innocent individual. This may mean that the guilty one gets an "unfair" degree of leniency, but the alternative is the greater of the two evils.

Agreed.

Edit: I am approaching this based on the assumptions that one twin is clearly guilty and the other clearly innocent, because even if it hasn't happened in reality, it is a philosophical and hypothetical exploration.

Indeed.

 

[AphroditeGoneAwry]

A: ''Hey sis, let's go to the kitchen and get some food.''
B: ''Great.''
*A gets a sharp knife out of the drawer*
B: What's that for, sis?
A: Self defense. I think a dangerous guy has been following us.
B: Eh??
A: Yep. Trust me.
B: Well, it's not like I have a choice. Ok, then.

No I don't think so.

B: what are you talking Bout no one has been following us I have been with you ever single second of every day of your life and I know what you are saying is false.
A: shut up and come this way.
B: not until you explain the knife ... Is this about x event? I'm not walking until you put that knife down.

Probably even something like

B: I can feel that our pulse is elevated. What is going on??

ponders how the fight/flight response might look.....

 

[TheStarchDefenders]

Send them to that island prison in Norway.

Agreed.

 

[1487610420]

Justice as we typically do it is passé and just really doesn't work.

^this.

 

[1487610420]

Justice as we typically do it is passé and just really doesn't work.

^this.

 

[UniqueMixture]

No I don't think so.

B: what are you talking Bout no one has been following us I have been with you ever single second of every day of your life and I know what you are saying is false.
A: shut up and come this way.
B: not until you explain the knife ... Is this about x event? I'm not walking until you put that knife down.

Probably even something like

B: I can feel that our pulse is elevated. What is going on??

What if one head is significantly dumber/smarter than the other?

 

[Laurie]

Murderous conjoined twins are plaguing our society and we can't figure out how to deal with it! (one of my friend's comments)

The blindfold thing seems weird. Blindfolding doesn't seem to equal jail to me. Stale crackers is a good idea though...

 

[sprinkles]

Yeah yeah what if one of them is deaf, blind, and has brain damage!

The whole point of this is not to make it a practical scenario.

Anyway. Punishment doesn't solve problems, but it does create them.

 

[skylights]

Posed this question to my SJ. His instant, joking reply was "lock the guilty one's head in a box".

Better than anything I've come up with.

 

[antireconciler]

I don't think you could punish the killer. I would want them to be treated and hopefully their minds could be reconciled. They have to work together and can't be of significantly split mind or else be useless much like a single person who is internally conflicted. Considering their permanent proximity to each other, I would expect them to be very heavily influenced by each other, and in that sense, I tend to want to treat them as a single person.

In some sense, I think the dilemma is a lot like what we really face all the time with people, and with ourselves, insofar as we feel inclined to think of a person as being taken hostage by guilty, hurtful, destructive thinking. It is generous and merciful for us to have that viewpoint ... truthfully I kind of like it, and would rather see people that way. I would rather see myself that way. I think of the irony of people saying things like "now you show your true colors!" when they do something evil, because the opposite may be the truth. People say when they do something they regret, "I was not myself". Their recognition of that tends to more easily inspire our forgiveness if we felt hurt by them, because our forgiveness amounts to the same thought pretty straightforwardly: who they are = that which is innocent.

 

[Vie]

I didn't bother to read all of the posts aside from the original, but I did go on a hunting for cases of conjoined twins. I went to college with a kid who went to high school with these girls:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K57IcN9DWXo


Obviously they can not be separated...

They do have separate personalities, but since they share so much of the body - they CAN control the other or at least inhibit the other from committing an act of murder. In this case, charge them both.

 

[Cellmold]

Posed this question to my SJ. His instant, joking reply was "lock the guilty one's head in a box".

Better than anything I've come up with.

That's actually quite good and still better than what an actual 'justice' system might come up with.