Asklemmy

How about we turn this around a bit? Instead of asking, "What should be done with them?", let's try it a bit more personal.

Suppose you woke tomorrow and found yourself in a hospital room. A doctor comes in and says, "Ah! You're awake! And you'll be pleased to know we've cured you."

Physically and mentally you feel (in this scenario) just as you do now - normal, healthy, but perhaps a bit puzzled.

"What was wrong with me?" you ask.

"Ah, well, you'd gone crazy for a bit there. It was like a virus, lots of people in your town caught it. It... influences its victims. You had it for years. You killed about a dozen people. Rape. Torture. That sort of thing."

"What?!"

"Don't worry - you were confused, not yourself. You believed that rape, murder, torture, kidnapping, and all that was acceptable. But now you're fine. Go in peace."

Could you simply go back to your life? Would changing your life, dedicating it to serve in the memory of those you killed, be enough for you to live with yourself from then on?

Would everyone around you constantly wonder if you were really cured, and worry that perhaps you'd kill again? Or fear that since you caught this virus, you might be susceptible to others that may come down the road, with the same or worse consequences?

What are the options? Obviously, if you are still dangerous, there are fewer. But what if these people suddenly came to the realization that their actions were as horrible as we find them to be - what are their options?

A. Suicide - can't live with the memory, or the possibility of relapse;

B. Incarceration - be sequestered from others (either voluntarily or by society) due to possibility of relapse;

C. Execution - it doesn't bring back the dead, but it assures no new dead from your hand.

D. Brain wipe - but we don't have that yet.

What's the answer?