When is it acceptable to kill someone?
For the purpose of this survey, assume that it refers to a healthy adult, other than yourself, who does not want to die. In other words, this survey is not about abortion, suicide/assisted suicide and euthanasia, as these are somewhat different questions.
Note: "Acceptable" doesn't mean "desirable" - it simply means that it wouldn't necessarily be morally wrong in these circumstances.
The "self-defence" options include you defending someone else who is incapable of defending themselves (e.g., a child), but not defence of someone else by police/security forces - there are separate options for these.
The police/army options are not exclusive - they can also refer to other official security forces, such as state troopers, national guard, etc - whatever is applicable in your country.
"Revenge" means that someone carries out the action themselves, outside the legal process (to differentiate it from judicial execution).
(Bill did a similar survey in 1999, but the options were different)
| Total Votes | % of Voters | Female Votes | Male Votes | Unspecified Votes | % of Female Votes | % of Male Votes | % of Unspecified Votes | Average Age | Answer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 12 | 9.0% | 8 | 4 | .. | 13.1% | 7.5% | .. | 36.5 | Never |
| 93 | 69.4% | 47 | 46 | .. | 77.0% | 86.8% | .. | 38.4 | In self-defence, when your life is under immediate threat |
| 46 | 34.3% | 21 | 25 | .. | 34.4% | 47.2% | .. | 38.3 | In self-defence, where you are in danger of injury but not death |
| 19 | 14.2% | 5 | 14 | .. | 8.2% | 26.4% | .. | 35.7 | In self-defence of your property |
| 81 | 60.4% | 40 | 41 | .. | 65.6% | 77.4% | .. | 38.4 | By the police in defence of someone whose life is under immediate threat |
| 35 | 26.1% | 16 | 19 | .. | 26.2% | 35.8% | .. | 39.0 | By the police in defence of someone in danger of injury but not death |
| 13 | 9.7% | 4 | 9 | .. | 6.6% | 17.0% | .. | 32.0 | By the police in defence of someone's property |
| 65 | 48.5% | 32 | 33 | .. | 52.5% | 62.3% | .. | 37.6 | By the police in defence of themselves |
| 56 | 41.8% | 22 | 34 | .. | 36.1% | 64.2% | .. | 39.7 | By the armed forces in time of war |
| 17 | 12.7% | 7 | 10 | .. | 11.5% | 18.9% | .. | 35.7 | By the police/army in maintaining public order (e.g., quelling a riot) |
| 9 | 6.7% | 1 | 8 | .. | 1.6% | 15.1% | .. | 31.5 | In pursuit of political aims (e.g., "liberation" movements or bombing abortion clinics) |
| 53 | 39.6% | 26 | 27 | .. | 42.6% | 50.9% | .. | 37.6 | Judicial execution of a convicted murderer |
| 25 | 18.7% | 14 | 11 | .. | 23.0% | 20.8% | .. | 37.2 | Judicial execution of a convicted criminal, other than a murderer |
| 25 | 18.7% | 12 | 13 | .. | 19.7% | 24.5% | .. | 34.0 | In revenge for the killing of someone else |
| 9 | 6.7% | 5 | 4 | .. | 8.2% | 7.5% | .. | 33.6 | In revenge for a non-fatal attack on someone else |
| 11 | 8.2% | 4 | 7 | .. | 6.6% | 13.2% | .. | 31.8 | In revenge for an attack on (or theft of) property |
| 20 | 14.9% | 11 | 9 | .. | 18.0% | 17.0% | .. | 39.2 | Other |
| Rating | Total | Female | Male | Unspecified | Average Age |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Good | 39 | 17 | 22 | 0 | 37.1 |
| Bad | 11 | 3 | 8 | 0 | 41.3 |
| No Opinion | 79 | 47 | 32 | 0 | 40.6 |
| Type | Number |
|---|---|
| Abstainers | 20 |
| Male | 53 |
| Female | 61 |
| Unspecified | 0 |
| User | Vote | Comment |
|---|---|---|
Strider   | reasonable | posted 25-Jan-2001 12:41am |
| Richard | reasonable | posted 24-Jan-2001 11:02pm |
| jinia | nitpick | posted 24-Jan-2001 9:36pm Understanding your question I'm, and you take a hard survey project. For example, option "By the police/ army in maintaining public order(e.g., quelling a riot)" make no sense, because there are many options(some are acceptable and other not..) under this option. |
| Lydeeia | reasonable | posted 24-Jan-2001 5:41pm |
| Wicksy | reasonable | posted 24-Jan-2001 8:34am |
ASB   | reasonable | posted 24-Jan-2001 8:32am |
msgman  | N/A | posted 24-Jan-2001 7:34am daver - I think that adding examples would make the survey too long. I can't quote the law exactly, but I know that in the UK you're only allowed to kill in self-defence if you genuinely believe (with good reason) that you will die if you don't.jinia - understanding your question I am not! |
| daver | reasonable | posted 24-Jan-2001 6:09am Most self-defense laws that I've read lumped serious injury and death together (or phrased it as "life and limb" or something similar).If you edit this again, could you quote one that makes a distinction between the two? |
| jinia | old | posted 24-Jan-2001 4:52am Do you ask for "Which reason is acceptable to kill someone?"? |
| Maarten | reasonable | posted 24-Jan-2001 4:30am |
| msgman | old | posted 24-Jan-2001 3:51am Oops - sorry Maarten and hildagard, I just wasn't looking properly!daver - I sort of agree with you about the contrived nature of being in danger of injury rather than death, but I think it's a necessary distinction to make as in most countries the law on self-defence makes this distinction. I've fixed the typo - sorry, this means that if you've voted "reasonable" you'll need to do it again, but I think it's more important to get it fixed than get it qualified quickly. |
| Strider | old | posted 24-Jan-2001 1:23am |
| Richard | old | posted 23-Jan-2001 9:23pm |
| SightSeer | old | posted 23-Jan-2001 9:19pm |
| daver | old | posted 23-Jan-2001 7:43pm That should be "carries out the action".As a nitpick, the circumstances required to be the unwilling recipient of an injury that I know will not result in death seem a little contrived. |
| Maarten | old | posted 23-Jan-2001 6:05pm I guess you meant Hildagard, but that's okay! |
| msgman | old | posted 23-Jan-2001 2:25pm Maarten - actually, your comment is valid. I've added options for revenge (and also made it a bit clearer, to address ASB's comment). |
| ASB | old | posted 23-Jan-2001 12:35pm What about by the police in defense of themselves? |
| hildagard | old | posted 23-Jan-2001 11:40am You could've add option 'Revenge', but it's okay |
| Lydeeia | old | posted 23-Jan-2001 10:45am |
| Maarten | old | posted 23-Jan-2001 9:16am |
| msgman | old | posted 23-Jan-2001 8:20am Note: I have spelled "defence" the European way. Please do not nitpick over this! |
