India couple accused of selling baby to buy iPhone 14

You notice that they did not sell the kid for a Samsung phone.

Damn, not even a Pro Max?  I suppose it’s better than eating your son for a blu-ray player.

I hope the Indian authorities are incredibly harsh in their punishments for this horrifyingly awful and self-centered couple. They need to be made an example of as a deterrent to other idiots.

I hope the parents can be rehabilitated to understand what a horrible thing they have done, but if they cannot then it might be best that the children are relocated with either relatives or another family that will give them the love and care they deserve.

chasm said:

I hope the Indian authorities are incredibly harsh in their punishments for this horrifyingly awful and self-centered couple. They need to be made an example of as a deterrent to other idiots.

While abhorrent, the above sentiment about retribution and harsh punishments (the "lock 'em up!" mentality) does very little to "reform" anyone.  It merely contributes to prison overcrowding and making bad people worse.  When did prison really reform anyone?  At least in the USA, prison merely amounts to rich people committing suicide because they can't handle it, and pretty much everyone else getting same-sex raped or abused in some form.  The mental anguish and bad conditions don't often make people reflect on the bad they've done, nor does prison often end up provoking positive and lasting change that benefits them and society.  Then when they get out, they are marked for life, and they find it difficult getting good jobs or fitting into peaceful society.  Many commit crimes after getting out so they can go back!

It's all about people who aren't in prison having this fanciful idea that our current system is reasonably good (it isn't) and that it can help people who commit crimes so as to better help society as a whole (it largely doesn't).  

At the end of the day, prison is basically a very bad place that keeps people who allegedly (but not always) did something wrong (as per a judge and/or jury consisting of fallible human beings) out of the eye of "decent/innocent" society.  Locking the bad guys away tends to protect people on society, although at taxpayer expense.  But prison is also is a training ground for bad behavior when and if these people ultimately are released back into society on parole.  

Some say it's the best we can do, but that's only because most people don't want to give more thought to it than we have already.  In the end, it's sad when I read stories like this because I know the people involved probably won't be reformed, and the people who scream "lock 'em up!" really aren't bettering society in the end.

jdw said:

chasm said:

I hope the Indian authorities are incredibly harsh in their punishments for this horrifyingly awful and self-centered couple. They need to be made an example of as a deterrent to other idiots.

While abhorrent, the above sentiment about retribution and harsh punishments (the "lock 'em up!" mentality) does very little to "reform" anyone.  It merely contributes to prison overcrowding and making bad people worse.  When did prison really reform anyone?  At least in the USA, prison merely amounts to rich people committing suicide because they can't handle it, and pretty much everyone else getting same-sex raped or abused in some form.  The mental anguish and bad conditions don't often make people reflect on the bad they've done, nor does prison often end up provoking positive and lasting change that benefits them and society.  Then when they get out, they are marked for life, and they find it difficult getting good jobs or fitting into peaceful society.  Many commit crimes after getting out so they can go back!

It's all about people who aren't in prison having this fanciful idea that our current system is reasonably good (it isn't) and that it can help people who commit crimes so as to better help society as a whole (it largely doesn't).  

At the end of the day, prison is basically a very bad place that keeps people who allegedly (but not always) did something wrong (as per a judge and/or jury consisting of fallible human beings) out of the eye of "decent/innocent" society.  Locking the bad guys away tends to protect people on society, although at taxpayer expense.  But prison is also is a training ground for bad behavior when and if these people ultimately are released back into society on parole.  

Some say it's the best we can do, but that's only because most people don't want to give more thought to it than we have already.  In the end, it's sad when I read stories like this because I know the people involved probably won't be reformed, and the people who scream "lock 'em up!" really aren't bettering society in the end.

Very well-said! Incarceration is torture and really does very little (to nothing) to reform the people who are sent to prison and also doesn’t help alleviate crime.