Hacker News Reader

Better approach is "dogs kill people". If your dog kills your baby, you should not get away with some bs excuse like "it never did it before". You are still responsible, and you should get a life in prison!

View on HN

I'm sorry but no, you should not get life in prison if your dog kills your baby without warning. In that horrible scenario, it's punishment enough that you've lost your baby and that your dog did it (and consequently you've also lost your dog). Not every tragedy is a human's fault.

Your reply only makes sense if we see the baby as property. If we see the baby as a full human who died because of another human's negligence, then suddenly the scenario becomes a lot more complicated.

Not life in prison complicated, but probably more than "he's been punished enough." complicated.

It's possible for a dog to do that and for it not to be negligence on the part of the owner. Things happen: brain tumors, neurological issues, or even early training (perhaps not on the part of the current owner) that reinforces not giving warning signs when the dog is in distress (more common than you'd think).

Reply on news.ycombinator.com