Reply #38: Hypothetically? Yes.

[Xithras]

Let's say, for example, that Cheney set his shock corps loose tomorrow and they killed half my family before being deposed. Of course I would want him punished, and of course I'd want him to spend the rest of his life in jail. But what if he evaded capture until he was a 103 year old Depends-wearing invalid who could barely remember his families name? Would I still hate him? Absolutely. Would I want to waste time with a trial and imprisonment? Not really. It wouldn't accomplish anything...the monster responsible for the crimes is already history at that point, and all that's left is a pathetic, mindless bag of flesh just waiting for a vital organ to fail. Prison isn't really a punishment at that point, because imprisonment would simply mean swapping one sterile gray hospital room for another. Infirm geriatrics don't get placed in cells.