Anyone following the Michael Swanson murder trials?

huwehotaling

http://minnesota.cbslocal.com/2011/06/23/defense-rests-in-iowa-killing-spree-trial/

He's obviously a sociopath, smiling after the verdict was read and flicking off the cameras. Totally gives me the creeps. What do you all think? Should he spend the rest of his life in jail or get psychiatric help? Or is there help for someone as sick as him?

Termiknitter

I think he's a sociopath, and jail for life is where he belongs. Sociopaths don't have a conscious, and since you can't teach anyone how to have a conscience or somehow give them one, there really is no fixing what is wrong with him.

jennyk213

He definitely gives me the creeps too. 

Jail is meant as a punishment and to deter people from doing something wrong.  If he is a sociopath, which it sure seems like he is, he won't think he's being punished and it certainly won't deter him or anyone else like him in the future.  I think sending him to jail is to make society feel justice has been done and because it is how we deal with criminals. 

With that being said, I think he should spend the rest of his life someplace where he can't hurt others.  I don't know if that should be a jail, a psychiatric facility or something else.  If I remember from my psych classes, there isn't a cure for sociopathy and treatments aren't always effective.  I can't see how someone like him could be out in the community when it's almost certain that he'd hurt other people.

huwehotaling

Yep, I agree with both of you. I was a Psych major in college and I remember watching interviews of sociopaths and serial killers and they all had similar reactions as Michael. Prison for life is really more a way to keep the public safe, not to actually stop them from their behavior. Without a conscience or remorse, there really is no way to treat people like him.

anitalynn

Yeah, he gives me the full on creeps. The quotes that have been attributed to him are awful. I'm not psych/medically trained (obvs) but I agree with people when they say that jail is more to protect the world from him, not actual punishment for him because he doesn't seem to get it.

It's so sad  

I feel so bad for his parents. What an ordeal for them - it sounds like he's put them through so much in his life. 

MrsKizdoodle

DH's uncle interviewed him shortly after the murders happened.  Uncle G. said that M.S. is the most cold creepy detached person he's ever met in his life and he's dealt with some pretty hardcore crime stuff. He is still haunted by the interview.  :-(

 

 

Janell's Nest

A person whose been planning to kill their parents from the age of 13 and actually acts on it a few years later only to complete strangers, deserves to go to jail for life...perhaps even solitary confinement so we don't have to hear on the news in a few years that he killed an inmate just to see what it was like to stab them with a plastic fork.

There's no help for a person like that, and I am just glad they got him off the street before he could kill others.

MrsKizdoodle

Janell's Nest:

A person whose been planning to kill their parents from the age of 13 and actually acts on it a few years later only to complete strangers

I hadn't heard that.  Holy toledo.  

I don't believe in the death penalty but I do think there is a time and place for solitary confinement.  This kid sounds like a good candidate for that.

Janell's Nest

MrsKizdoodle:

Janell's Nest:

A person whose been planning to kill their parents from the age of 13 and actually acts on it a few years later only to complete strangers

I hadn't heard that.  Holy toledo.  

I don't believe in the death penalty but I do think there is a time and place for solitary confinement.  This kid sounds like a good candidate for that.

We were talking about it at work today and my co-worker brought up that comment, and I had to check it out...I guess its the reason why they kept any weapons off the property, they locked up his clothes, and gave him a small hand towel with a safety pin to shower with because if they gave him anything bigger he'd use it to strangle them with...he told his parents this!!!  Sick kid, really, really sick!!

jennyk213

Janell's Nest:

MrsKizdoodle:

Janell's Nest:

A person whose been planning to kill their parents from the age of 13 and actually acts on it a few years later only to complete strangers

I hadn't heard that.  Holy toledo.  

I don't believe in the death penalty but I do think there is a time and place for solitary confinement.  This kid sounds like a good candidate for that.

We were talking about it at work today and my co-worker brought up that comment, and I had to check it out...I guess its the reason why they kept any weapons off the property, they locked up his clothes, and gave him a small hand towel with a safety pin to shower with because if they gave him anything bigger he'd use it to strangle them with...he told his parents this!!!  Sick kid, really, really sick!!

Wow.  What would you do if you were the parents?  I cannot even begin imagine....

mikeandmonica

Everything about this story is sad/creepy/scary/whatever.  I cannot even begin to imagine what it would be like to live in fear of your own son each day.  What a nightmare to live with!  I'm not sure what I think about his parents though - I read that whole towel/shower thing, but then I wondered how he got their credit cards and keys?  You lock up clothes but nothing else?  That seems strange.  Either way, I am glad that person is going to be in jail for the rest of his life.  I know nothing about psych stuff, but someone like that obviously feels no remorse, and I don't know if I think that is something that can be "taught" through going to a psych hospital vs. prison.

MichellePete

From what I've read, his parents have gone through H ELL with him.  It wasn't a matter of if he would do something, but when.  They are the prime example of how good parents can do everything possible, but still have a child who they cannot control or even help.  I get calls and visits from parents/families similar to this and my heart breaks for them.  They're willing to do anything to help their child and yet they've run out of resources. He had been placed in several treatment centers and mental health placements and been kicked out of all of them for behavior issues.