theory on guilt?

[robtex]

I have a true story I thought about this weekend. I have this friend here in Austin I am going to call mrs M. Her brother, whose name I do not know but am going to call Sergio is doing life with possiblty for parole for 1st degree murder.

Sergio when he was 20ish (21 22 maybe) went out on a date. He took this woman out drinking with him on a date than raped her and killed her. No witness no dna no body. Clean getaway.

6 months later he walks into the police station and confess to the crime giving information about the death and the location of the body all which turn out to be true.

The prosectuction though, he didn't cut a deal figure since he turned himself in they go for life instead of death. And he gets life but a big sentence. No possiblity of parole ever. He will die in prision. Since the deal was struck after the fact, he really didn't know when he walked into the station if he was going to be put to death or not.

One year when Mrs M. was visiting him she asked him why he confessed. The police were the first ones that were told. Nobody in his huge mexican family had any clue at all. Not a sole knew and if he did not tell today he would be a free man. Another insolved murder.

Sergio told Mrs M. that it was guilt. The guilt was eating him up so bad he couldn't take it anymore. He told her that inside his head he was going crazy with guilt and thought about it all the time. He blamed alcohol, rage, lots of stuff but in the end he couldn't live with it anymore and he walked into the police station.

But he still killed her ..tortured her killed her and raped her. Sadistically and for self pleasure. So I find it perplexing why he could do it and than not live with it. I wonder do any of you have theories on guilt and if so what are they and what do you have to support your theories.

 

[No*s]

Reminds me of the book Crime and Punishment (a really good read).

I don't know how I'd judge this. How much to punish here is a tough one...

EDIT:

I realize that isn't the answer to the question...but I'm a little dumbfuzzled at the moment on the situation there...

 

[jewscout]

First why he did it in the first place....he was a young man in his twenties and may not have been running on all cylinders ya know? Maybe it was the heat of the moment...who knows...maybe he thought he'd kill her and didn't think it would be a big deal for anyone...let alone him...
Secondly the guilt...someone once told me that whatever you do today you'll have to sleep with in the evening...maybe her face...the whole experience...slowly began to haunt him...maybe it wasn't so bad at first but then time went by every women he saw he saw her instead...her face...heard her screams and pleas...after a while that eat ats you...think about the soldiers who worked those concentration camps in WW2...many of them put a gun to their head than go on another day doing the horrible things they were doing.

 

[robtex]

Jewscout I have never met the guy but I am good friends with Mrs M. ( I even sent her an ecard for Christmas). We use to work together here in Austin. Sergio never told Mrs M why he did it. He blamed it on his drinking which comes across as a cop out.

If someone does something intentionally to harm another or cheat another why do they hurt inside and feel guilt afterwards?

 

[Sunstone]

J. Krishnamurti theorized that guilt was a useless emotion in much the same sense that the appendix is a useless organ which occasionally flares up causing much trouble. I forget exactly why he thought it was a useless emotion.

 

[huajiro]

Robtex:

I watched a special on tv once about people who are born without a conscience....it is scary.

This guy is totally different.

 

[robtex]

Robtex:

I watched a special on tv once about people who are born without a conscience....it is scary.

This guy is totally different.

You are suggesting it is genetic? Do you have a theory on it? what did the show say about predatory behavoir and /or guilt?

 

[Lightkeeper]

I have heard that guilt is a man made emotion. In other words it isn't one of our instinctive emotions. I think being drunk had a lot to do with his actions, but not all of it. He must have had some issues. If guilt is a man made emotion that explains how he could kill and then feel guilty later. I think people can do things in a drunken rage that they wouldn't do when sober. The question is what put him into a rage?

 

[fromthe heart]

I think guilt is something most of us have to degrees....I have to wonder if the guilt we feel doesn't come from those around us as we grow up...if you are made to feel guilty you learn how to feel guilty. A lot of people feel guilty about everything...it has to come from instilled guilt as a child...I think may be a learned behavior.

The other theory of mine would be it comes through your subconscience. Those without a conscience don't feel guilt to any real degree. I think people without the feelings of guilt may be born that way. I've heard of serial killers that don't feel remorse so that means they don't FEEL guilty...they were born that way? I have to wonder about that.

This is just an uneducated guess.

 

[Fluffy]

It seems like the whole human race is focused on short term accomplishment over long term happiness. From wasting fossil fuels in the face of an enviromental crisis to binge drinking and regretting it later when medical problems arise.

Sergio demonstrated this exactly. He went for short term sexual gratification even though he knew he could face jail. He had not counted on his guilt and the sense of regret which the long term reactions of his short term brutality caused. This would be why he did it even though he could clearly not live with it afterwards; he was just not thinking about the long term consequences.

Guilt, whether it was placed there by a divine being or as an evolutionary response, is there to protect the human race as a whole. It is necessary for survival since it prevents, on the most part, people from committing atrocities to one another which could lead to humanities extinction. Obviously, it is not enough in a large number of cases but this is certainly one effect of it and therefore could be its reason.