The right to take his own life?

And what's the difference between allowing him to take his own life & state imposed capital punishment?

Chumly wrote:

If you adhere to the belief that society must have its due, then no Martin Bryant cannot be allowed to kill himself in a country that has exempted itself from capital punishment as the courts have decreed the punishment fits the crime. If on the other hand you adhere to the belief that society should not have its due and you do not believe in rehabilitation then Martin Bryant should be allowed to kill himself.

What does it mean for "society to have its due?"

In this case the belief that society must have its due as decreed by the courts of the land.

Is suicide a crime in Australia?

In Australia, to commit suicide (successfully) is not against the law. However to attempt to commit suicide (and fail) is against the law.

In Australia, the criminal law concerning suicide varies according to the jurisdiction in question. In all jurisdictions, suicide is no longer a crime and, except in the Northern Territory, the crime of attempted suicide has also been abolished. It is, however, still an offence for a person to assist another person to commit suicide or to attempt to commit suicide (the precise wording differs according to the jurisdiction) (Australian Institute of Criminology).

Chumly wrote:

In this case the belief that society must have its due as decreed by the courts of the land.

Then society is getting its due. It's owed life imprisonment, and it gets life imprisonment -- whether the life is ended by suicide, by an appendicitis, or by dementia.

I would answer yes in the case of capital punishment, and yes in the case of legal decisions that affect the penal system's inmate's living conditions and thus health.

4. rightful; proper; fitting http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/due

In this case the belief that society must have its due as decreed by the courts of the land.

What is "society's due"?

I don't know what that would be in idealized ethical terms* but I will say that in this case at this time it's going to be what the courts have decreed, that being life imprisonment. I can't represent society nor can I represent the courts.

*On further thought I suggest that rehabilitation would be the idealized ethical goal. Now you're going to ask me what I mean by "rehabilitation" and "idealized ethical goal" so I'll answer in part by pointing to the film "A Clockwork Orange" as a solution that went awry, but still suggests some promise.

The main problem I see if this is given some sort of official blessing is not what would happen in THIS case but the precedent. Seems way too easy for prison officials to arrange for various problematic cases to "want" to commit suicide, and then go ahead and help them do it...

Martin Bryant is serving 35 life sentences for the 1996 killings of 35 people at Tasmania's historic Port Arthur penal settlement, in the world's worst mass murder by a lone gunman.

What the hell is a penal settlement?

Chumly wrote:

What is "society's due"?

I don't know what that would be in idealized ethical terms* but I will say that in this case at this time it's going to be what the courts have decreed, that being life imprisonment. I can't represent society nor can I represent the courts.

Well then Thomas's point is correct. If all society is due is a jail term that ends in the prisoner's death, then the manner of that prisoner's death shouldn't matter at all.

You're mistaken. I wouldn't have asked you that question.

Chumly wrote:

I would answer yes in the case of capital punishment, and yes in the case of legal decisions that affect the penal system's inmate's living conditions and thus health.

On what basis would you answer that?

Sorry my mom in law has gone to the hospital and I don't have the focus to remember where I was going with this, sad days may be ahead

I've been reading this with interest.

By that argument if the jail term ends in capital punishment that's OK, however I did not say that was the case.

Nor would I agree that if incarceration was tantamount to a quick dealt death sentence as I discussed prior.