okay, so I dont have a full plot developed yet, but its a story of two criminals. I want to play around with a few ideas:

-can one really be redeemed for past crimes?
-what does it mean to be redeemed?
-how does one redeem oneself?
-how much does our background or past influence our actions?
-Is a "horrible childhood",etc. a legitimate motivation, or an excuse?
-what motivates people to do such horrific things?
-Is capitol punishment right or wrong?
-what crimes deserve death, and what ones only a prision term?
-Is 10-15 years in prision really "justice" and if so, for whom?
-Should prisioners have "rights", and if so, what rights should they have, and what rights do they forfit by commiting a crime?
-Is there such a thing as good or evil?
-How does one move on past the bad things that happened to them?
-How does one "forgive" someone for something (particularily if said thing was horrific), and what does it mean for this person to forgive?
-etc.

So I am thinking that both of them are going to be a created character, with certain details of crimes, personality, etc. pulled from real criminals and real crimes... but I dont even know who I want to research...

So if you can think of someone or something for me to research, please throw it out there... also throw out your thoughts on any of the questions above. Keep in mind that this is going to be a "horror" or "supernatural thriller", so these criminals should be pretty bad... Also, please dont get into any arguments in here-everyone has different opinions, and that needs to be respected. But all opinions and ideas are welcome.

Are you looking for personal opinions on these issues? If so here's what I think:

-can one really be redeemed for past crimes?
No. Though they can be forgiven.

-what does it mean to be redeemed?
To me it would mean absolution.

-how does one redeem oneself?
You don't. You become a better person and learn from your mistakes.

-how much does our background or past influence our actions?
Completely. Every decision we make is based on something we learned. For instance I have 8 siblings. 3 of whom were from my fathers previous marriage. As a result I was never given the chance to be close to them like I am with my other 5 siblings. I missed out on what could have been great relationships.

As a result, when my husband and I devorced I allowed him to keep our children because his mistress was pregnant with their sister. It sucked for me, but now they have the relationship with their sister that I never had with my brothers and other sister. To me it was worth it, no matter the cost to me.

What happened to us in the past and what we witness and learn affects us in ways that may not be noticable immediately.

-Is a "horrible childhood",etc. a legitimate motivation, or an excuse?
An excuse. crap happens but everyone knows what's right and whats wrong. Using an poor childhood to get away with it is a cop out. Plenty of people overcome bad childhoods and lead productive and law abiding lives.

-Is capitol punishment right or wrong?
Right. And not used nearly enough. Why would it be acceptable for someone who murders another person to be allowed to live when they've taken the life of someone else?

-Is 10-15 years in prision really "justice" and if so, for whom?
Depends completely on the crime.

-Should prisioners have "rights", and if so, what rights should they have, and what rights do they forfit by commiting a crime?

You bet. They have the right to bread and water and a mat on the floor. They should be treated like the animals they are. Well... actually, that's not true. Animals should be treated better.

-Is there such a thing as good or evil?
Yes. We see it everyday. We see it when a volunteer helps others just because the can. We see it when a rapist pounds into some poor woman. It's there... right in front of us every single day.

Here's a site that lists famous murderes for you to review and see if one of them might fit the background your looking for: http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/notorious_murders/famous/

Yes I am looking for people's opinions on the issues, and for the 10-15 years question, it means for the most serious offenders for crimes such as rape, murder, etc.

thanks for your help!

-can one really be redeemed for past crimes?
I'd like to believe so. But I think it's only possible through an act of complete selflessness where the person truly doesn't care about what the consequences for them are so long as someone else is saved. Ever seen the end of Constantine? It'd be like that. Another example - Throwing yourself in front of bus in order to push someone else out of the way - not because you know or even think you'll be redeemed but because you feel it's the right thing to do for that other person.

-what does it mean to be redeemed?
To be redeemed? To be given back a piece of your soul, to be not just forgiven but accepted. I'm being cryptic aren't I? Sorry, I can't help it... I don't know how I'd describe it.

-how does one redeem oneself?
I err.. guess I kinda answered that in the first question...

-how much does our background or past influence our actions?
I don't think it does. I mean, I think yes, in some ways it will act as a motivation but essentially, it all boils down to the type of person you are. You can sit two people in two alternate universes and give them the exact same background or past influences but because these two people aren't the same two people, then the results at the end will be different. Certain things might make one person stronger and another weaker so while yes - it does affect us, it does not define us.

-Is a "horrible childhood",etc. a legitimate motivation, or an excuse?
No. Never. It's just a bad excuse because the person doesn't want to accept responsibility so they choose to blame something else. You might wanna look up the Attribution Theory if you're interested more on this. It's all about how some people are predisposed to either blame themselves or the situation they're in. Also, try looking up the fundamental attribution error, a good insight into the way the human mind works. (not every human mind...)

-what motivates people to do such horrific things?
Mental instability, lack of morals, or sometimes even maybe they were put in a position and they felt the only way out was that - in which case I guess you could say the feeling of being trapped.

-Is capitol punishment right or wrong?
That's like the death penalty right? I was thinking about this earlier and about my views on it. I'm gonna have to go with wrong. It's like the old saying 'two wrongs don't make a right'. Killing them won't bring the person they killed back from the dead so what's the point of making another family suffer? You kill that person, they're not getting punished. They're getting off lightly. They die. You kill that person, you're punishing their family. Life inprisonment would be a much better option and I mean life. Not the crap they pull off over here where life actually means 20 years or something. I mean, locking them up for good.

-what crimes deserve death, and what ones only a prision term?
No crimes deserves death. Death is the easy part, it's living that's the hard thing to do.

-Is 10-15 years in prision really "justice" and if so, for whom?
It's not justice - it's punishment. The victims or the family of the victims get nothing from it except maybe they'll feel a little lighter. For the really serious crimes, I dunno... it depends on whether that person really has learned from their mistake. I think it would a good starting point to revisit the person and see if maybe they could function in society again but if not, then they shouldn't be let out.

-Should prisioners have "rights", and if so, what rights should they have, and what rights do they forfit by commiting a crime?
Depends on the crime and the circumstance of the crime. When it comes to rape and things like that, they gave up their human 'rights' as soon as they decided to start acting like animals. I can say one thing though - they don't deserve to be treated better than the people living outside of prisons. If they're given a good quality of life 'inside' why would they ever want to be out again? Why would anyone?

-Is there such a thing as good or evil?
Yes. I don't know what else to say on the subject besides the fact that whilst some may feel guilt and self hatred for what they did, there will always be someone who doesn't feel a thing.

-How does one move on past the bad things that happened to them?
I think the first step would be to accept it. Once you've accepted that it happened and that you can't go back and change it, then you can think about how to go on from there and get on with your life.

-How does one "forgive" someone for something (particularily if said thing was horrific), and what does it mean for this person to forgive?
This one I'm not sure how to answer 'cause I could spout of a load of nonsense but unless it happened to me, I don't know if I actually could forgive that person because I don't think I'd want to be given the chance to forgive them.

I think the main dilema comes though when you think about being locked up for a really nasty crime that you didn't commit and you go back through and answer these questions... it'll make you see things alittle differently because no matter how much you may know you're innocent, others won't see it the same way.

Sorry for rambling. ^_^

I didnt think you rambled at all. The whole point of me posting these questions is to get other people`s thoughts on the subject-whether they agree with me or not. and the more detailed the response, the more I have to think about. Different people see things different ways, and this input can help me shape this novel, and make this novel the novel i want it to be...