Please post by Friday, April 26.
Please go to Cambodia: Quest for Justice and view the 26 minute video. Comment on an appropriate punishment for Comrade Duch. Consider how sincere his apology was for his crimes. He even felt what his defense attorney asked for was not enough. He believes he deserves punishments for his terrible crimes. He has already served more than 11 years at his penalty phase. He was then given 35 years with 19 years to serve (last year the U.N. Tribunal lengthened his sentence to life in prison). He is a 69 year-old man. He will not commit crimes of this nature again. He poses no threat to humanity. Was he also a victim of the Khmer Rouge government of Cambodia and its maniacal leader Pol Pot? He and his family was threatened by the extremism of the regime. Should we have some sympathy for his predicament? On the other hand, someone must be held accountable for these awful murders - 2,000,000 killed! Explain why life in prison is appropriate, too harsh, or even too lenient.
Please post by Friday, April 26.
10 Comments
Derrick Nault
4/25/2019 09:45:44
I do not think that he should serve the remainder of his life sentence. I am sure that his crimes warrant the punishment, but seeing that he is no longer a threat to society the only reason to continue the punishment is a deep seeded resentment and desire for revenge. Allowing a people to give into desires for revenge is no benefit to society and it may be a negative. In punishing one man, he becomes the face of the movement and his punishment expunges all the institutions that accuse him of the crimes— leading to a more “moral” and less fallible institution. This makes a more docile populace that is less willing to reform or revolt against that institution and therefore a less just world.
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Sam
4/25/2019 10:09:18
I believe life in prison is an appropriate punishment. Even though he is sorry now, he still committed the crimes against humanity. If he were to walk free, the lives he took would have no worth and the world would be getting a message that as long as you’re sorry your crimes can be forgiven. It can be agreed upon that Pol Pot was the true mastermind of the Cambodian Genocide, but he never would’ve been able to take over without support from others, such as Comrade Duch. This makes him accountable for his actions, no matter how much remorse he feels.
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Emma D
4/25/2019 15:33:10
I do not believe he should be required to serve the rest of his life sentence. While he did commit horrendous crimes against humanity that composed of some of his own will, there is a clear sense of guilt and regret that he feels. His actions were inexcusable and can never be taken back, however, the only reason to keep him in prison for life is so he can wait to die. He does not deserve to escape scathe free, but what good is there in locking him up for revenge? He sincerely seems like a man that is sorry for his crimes and will no longer pose a threat to society. There should be people watching him to ensure the safety of others and perhaps have him do some progressive community work to communicate to others his regret, a seemingly more practical way to deal with the situation then locking him away. This is the right path in my opinion, especially since there is some chance that he was forced by the government and had no choice but to go through with these horrible actions. The uncertainty of the crimes and the guilt he feels should be taken into consideration by those sentencing him.
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Gabrielle C
4/25/2019 20:24:20
I believe life in prison is the right punishment. He could say his apology was sincere, but he could be saying that just to get out of prison. You never actually know if he is really sorry for what he has done. His actions would always speak louder than his words no matter what. If he gets out he would not know how to go back into a regular society. He is 69 years old and he understands what he has done. He knew it was wrong and he still did it. There shouldn´t be the chance of him being a possible threat to society. To not make him a threat, he would be locked up and that is the approprate sentencing.
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Eryanna B
4/25/2019 20:59:38
I personally believe that life in prison is an appropriate punishment. Even though he is no longer a threat to society, that won't make up for the countless amount of lives that he took. Not only that, if they were to let him walk free, it would be like saying all those lives meant nothing. I think he should pay for what he did and the only way to do that is to spend the rest of his life in prison. There are other people to blame and he did take ownership, but I don't think that enough for the people killed. His apologies won't bring back those lives.
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Celeste
4/25/2019 21:30:58
I do not think that life in prison is the correct punishment. A life sentence would just be him waiting to die in a prison cell for another five to ten years. He has already thought about his actions long enough and most likely, he would die in the remaining years of his original sentence. It seems like this was an unnecessary action by the United Nations, especially because a life sentence can't bring any of the victims back and he has shown remorse. Comrade Duch is not an evil person, he was brainwashed by Khmer Rouge government, and though I wouldn't consider him a victim, he definitely does need his sentence to be extended.
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Connor a
4/25/2019 23:24:06
I don’t believe he should have to serve his life sentence. He has to make the decision of ride with their tyrannical government or die on the other side. Every person in this world is more caring of themselves than others and if we were all put in this situation we would probably make the same decision because the job has to be done anyways. We need to take into consideration his family and all the thoughts that were going through this head. He seemed truly sincere about the whole situation and I do not believe he should have to serve and time.
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Grace S
4/26/2019 06:42:49
I Believe that life in prison is the correct thing in this case to not get revenge but for him to service time after killing and torturing so many people. Prison in some cases is meant for rehabilitation but for a person that caused so much pain and death and terror all you can do is detain him until his time runs out. As an old man I understand that he can do no harm now. It’s not the fact that he can’t hurt anyone it’s to heal the five people that survive mentally and emotionally. To heal the families that have lost their loved ones and to heal a country that fell into chaos.
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Jake M
4/29/2019 08:00:11
I believe that life in prison is the right decision. I believe this because in the video he said he has realized what he did and that he didn’t really have a choice to commit all these horrible acts. He said in the video he had no choice if he did not do it they would kill him and his family. The person who should have been put to death is Pol Pot. He was the person who started it all. The other thing is that he apologized so many times and I know when committing all these things you can’t really take an apology. I do think that he was a terrible person for doing those things teaching all those people how to properly torture a person, all that is not right but he was forced to do it. Just think of it if your family was going to be killed and you had to do all these things would you do it?
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Kyle Beck
4/29/2019 23:14:56
I believe that he has served a long enough sentence for his crimes. The man came out and told of his atrocities that he had to do and apologized. I believe he has served enough time. Although I can understand why people would want him to have a longer sentence because of what he did but you cannot pin the blame entirely on the few. Being in jail is no easy task especially if the crime is despicable, even delinquents have there own sense of justice and will act how they see fit. Because of this I feel he she be set free.
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