Am I the only one who thinks Josef "House of Horrors" Frankl got off lightly?

[derby378]

When his daughter was 18, he imprisoned her in a secret basement underneath his house, keeping her locked up with reinforced doors and surveillance cameras that rival some prisons today. Then he raped her - repeatedly - and fathered several children with her.

That was 24 years ago.

That poor girl was rescued only last year, when police finally busted Frankl and discovered the secret prison. Frankl pled guilty to all charges, and his sentence is life - in a comfortable psychiatric institution:

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5gNtIBYRXaS5k9aCCs2Ef15VGFLGQ

A song from Bob Dylan comes to my mind:

William Zanzinger killed poor Hattie Carroll
With a cane that he twirled around his diamond ring finger
At a Baltimore hotel society gath'rin'.
And the cops were called in and his weapon took from him
As they rode him in custody down to the station
And booked William Zanzinger for first-degree murder.

But you who philosophize disgrace and criticize all fears,
Take the rag away from your face.
Now ain't the time for your tears.

William Zanzinger, who at twenty-four years
Owns a tobacco farm of six hundred acres
With rich wealthy parents who provide and protect him
And high office relations in the politics of Maryland,
Reacted to his deed with a shrug of his shoulders
And swear words and sneering, and his tongue it was snarling,
In a matter of minutes on bail was out walking.

But you who philosophize disgrace and criticize all fears,
Take the rag away from your face.
Now ain't the time for your tears.

Hattie Carroll was a maid of the kitchen.
She was fifty-one years old and gave birth to ten children
Who carried the dishes and took out the garbage
And never sat once at the head of the table
And didn't even talk to the people at the table
Who just cleaned up all the food from the table
And emptied the ashtrays on a whole other level,
Got killed by a blow, lay slain by a cane
That sailed through the air and came down through the room,
Doomed and determined to destroy all the gentle.
And she never done nothing to William Zanzinger.

But you who philosophize disgrace and criticize all fears,
Take the rag away from your face.
Now ain't the time for your tears.

In the courtroom of honor, the judge pounded his gavel
To show that all's equal and that the courts are on the level
And that the strings in the books ain't pulled and persuaded
And that even the nobles get properly handled
Once that the cops have chased after and caught 'em
And that the ladder of law has no top and no bottom,
Stared at the person who killed for no reason
Who just happened to be feelin' that way without warnin'.
And he spoke through his cloak, most deep and distinguished,
And handed out strongly, for penalty and repentance,
William Zanzinger with a six-month sentence.

Oh, but you who philosophize disgrace and criticize all fears,
Bury the rag deep in your face
For now's the time for your tears.

:cry:

[truebrit71]

1. I agree with you 100%.

But I don't think he would ever be dead enough if he were to be executed...

An absolute monster...

[Midlodemocrat]

2. I don't know that I would categorize a psych hospital as comfortable.

Were you thinking another form of punishment for him?

[canetoad]

3. He has recieved the maximum sentence possible

Despite the reprehensible acts he committed, he has been dealt with within the law of Austria. It is pointless to wish he was dealt with more harshly.

[derby378]

5. I can't buy the insanity argument, though

He belongs in maximum security with the general population,
not in a clean, soft hospital bed.

He deserves at the very least the conditions he subjected poor
Elisabeth to for nearly a quarter of a century.

[AirBaud]

4. A bullet to the back of the head.

That would be fair and relatively painless.

[derby378]

6. True, but Austria has no death penalty

Maybe he'll be tormented by those memories one day, and maybe the memories just won't stop.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

7. His flesh should be consumed until I gain his powers.

His skin should be made into a lampshade.

And his component molecules should be digitized forced to participate in a game of lethal frisbee with actuary programs.

[Warpy]

8. Not really. Yes, he's scum and needs to be locked up

but they're a bit more civilized than we are and recognize that the man is sick.

Nothing is going to give his daughter all those years back. Punishing him severely might even make it worse for her.

Public safety will be served by keeping him locked away and probably medicated into a zombie. People who think the average state psychiatric facility for the criminally insane is "comfortable" need a large reality check. They are not comfortable. The only thing that distinguishes them from prisons are the drugs and presence of trained personnel to administer them.

I hope the state's largesse extends to the daughter. She is going to need a lot of help getting back into a real life.

[derby378]

11. Elisabeth has received a new identity and is undergoing intense psychiatric therapy

Even so, her therapists don't seem to hold out much hope that she'll ever recover. Poor girl.

[Midlodemocrat]

13. There's no doubt that he completely destroyed her.

My heart breaks for her, and her children.

[amitten]

14. She will always be a prisoner of her own living hell.

No one can ever recover from that kind of long-term abuse.

[Warpy]

17. No, she'll never be a normal woman

but she might get to the point that she can cope with life on the outside of her father's prison.

[Warpy]

18. Will satisfying your need for vengeance

give his daughter those years back?

Please read what I described as the conditions in hospitals for the criminally insane. That should satisfy anyone.

[derby378]

22. You speak of vengeance where I have not

And I have read your earlier notes about conditions in those hospitals. I guess I was thinking of Girl, Interrupted while you seem to be evoking something closer to The Silence of the Lambs.

[Warpy]

24. I'm remembering the ward for the criminally insane in a hospital

I worked in.

It's not going to be "Girl, Interrupted." It's going to be heavy medication, confinement, and the loss of everything in his life.

[amitten]

12. The daughter will never regain a life. This is worse than Gitmo.

What was done to her exceeds any of the torture I have heard of coming out of Gitmo.

I suppose the Gitmo torturers deserve "treatment" because they're "sick". Like hell--they deserve to be locked up like the criminals they are.

You know, there is sickness and then there is cruelty. What this man did to his daughter was sick, but it was also cruel. And he WITHOUT QUESTION deserves punishment beyond psychiatric treatment. As did Jeffrey Dahmer, Charles Manson, etc.

[amitten]

9. I think removal of his genitalia is certainly called for.

I'll be happy to volunteer my services.

I'll need to borrow the hedge clippers, though.

[niyad]

15. you can borrow mine--nice and rusty and jagged.

[JerseygirlCT]

10. No, there's definitely a part of me that thinks he should spend the

rest of his life locked in a box underground.

[hlthe2b]

16. There's no death penalty, so what would be the alternative?

[REP]

20. Prison, not a psych hospital

I know psych hospitals aren't pleasant but a true prison is appropriate; perhaps lifetime in solitary confinement for his own safety.

[Warpy]

23. In the hospital, he'll be medicated into a zombie

He'll have no life, no way to pursue interests, nothing that he'd have in a prison. Trust me, the hospital is worse,if anything.

[REP]

26. Worse than life in solitary in prison? Doubtful.

Drugged zombie sounds better than life in the hole.

[Warpy]

27. They don't do that in civilized countries.

[spanone]

19. it's horrific, but i think him rotting in a jail thinking, is better than ending his life

perhaps he'll be repeatedly raped, daily.

[La Lioness Priyanka]

21. didnt he get life in prison?

[derby378]

25. If he's ever pronounced "cured," they'll put him in a regular prison

I think that's the judge's decision. Either way, he's confined for life.