this post was submitted on 11 Jul 2024
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Darryl Anderson was drunk behind the wheel of his Audi SUV, had his accelerator pressed to the floor and was barreling toward a car ahead of him when he snapped a photo of his speedometer. The picture showed a car in the foreground, a collision warning light on his dashboard and a speed of 141 mph (227 kph).

An instant later, he slammed into the car in the photo. The driver, Shalorna Warner, was not seriously injured but her 8-month-old son and her sister were killed instantly, authorities said. Evidence showed Anderson never braked. 

Anderson, 38, was sentenced Tuesday to 17 years in prison for the May 31 crash in northern England that killed little Zackary Blades and Karlene Warner. Anderson pleaded guilty last week in Durham Crown Court to two counts of causing death by dangerous driving.

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[–] sturmblast 30 points 6 months ago (3 children)

Bad drivers need harsher punishments if you ask me.

[–] [email protected] 19 points 6 months ago (1 children)

There is no harsher punishment than this. It's literally 1/4th of your life gone. Getting out of prison after this time and realizing what you lost and you got nothing - no friends, no family (probably), no relationships - must be soul crushing.

I'd rather die honestly.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 6 months ago (2 children)

This might qualify as murder in Germany, especially the "did not brake" part: It's not necessary to have intent to kill someone, it is only necessary to willingly hazard the consequences. That's how those street racers got convicted of murder.

OTOH that's the kind of murder that gives you a life-long sentence where parole after just the minimum time (15 years) is definitely not just on the table but the norm.

[–] Krzd 3 points 6 months ago (2 children)

"life-long" in Germany is 25 years, normally with the option for parole after 15. However there is "Sicherheitsverwahrung", which doesn't count as punishment but is instead justified with protecting the rest of the public from a certain person, and can be applied indefinitely.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 6 months ago

The average imprisonment for life-long is 25 years. There's no actual corresponding timed-sentence for lifelong as that is in fact technically lifelong, though with constitutional guarantee to have a chance at resocialisation. And § 66 StGB is most certainly not applicable to this kind of manslaughter. The dangerous part - recklessly driving a vehicle - can be mitigated by revoking and blocking the driving licence

[–] [email protected] 2 points 6 months ago

Dangerous Offender status is what they call it in Canada. It's reserved for the confirmed sociopaths.

[–] [email protected] -1 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago) (1 children)

Murder in germany requires intent and malice. Neither is given here.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago) (1 children)

Dolus eventualis aka Eventualvorsatz, which can indeed be summed up as "willingly hazarding the consequences". AFAIU in English that's not a type of intent but recklessness. It certainly is not intent to kill someone, just intent to not give a fuck whether someone dies, there's a difference there.

Trying to sum up the stuff that distinguishes Totschlag from Mord with "malice" is also rather... vague. The key factor in this case (or at least the aspect that's easiest to establish) is killing by using means that are a danger to public safety, to wit, a car going 226km/h. Certainly doesn't fit the dictionary definition of "malice".

[–] [email protected] 1 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Certainly doesn't fit the dictionary definition of "malice"

That's why it's not murder in this case.

Murder would be if I kill you for your car, as an example. Or a child killing his parents for faster inheritance. In Germany, we'd call these "niederer Beweggrund", so ... "Greed-based motive"? Idk how to properly translate it.

In this case, its definitely no murder tho because neither of the three characteristics for murder are given.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago)

Mörder ist, wer aus Mordlust, zur Befriedigung des Geschlechtstriebs, aus Habgier oder sonst aus niedrigen Beweggründen, heimtückisch oder grausam oder mit gemeingefährlichen Mitteln oder um eine andere Straftat zu ermöglichen oder zu verdecken, einen Menschen tötet.

"niederer Beweggrund" would be "base motive", Habgier is greed. And they're only one possible way to qualify murder. As I emphasised there, using means that are a danger to public safety is another.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 6 months ago (1 children)

17 years is harsh but fair. Anything beyond that is just punitive.

[–] ours 11 points 6 months ago (2 children)

Americans are in a very weird bubble when it comes to punishment/correction compared to most of the developed world and they don't seem to notice it.

Insane punishments, death penalty, imprisoning drug users, imprisoning sex workers, private prisons, normalized prison violence/sex violence. It's bonkers.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 6 months ago (2 children)

Wouldn't be a Lemmy post if it weren't for someone shitting on America or Americans even when the story has nothing to do with America.

[–] ours 1 points 6 months ago

It was a response to a comment asking for harsher punishment. And that sort of comment tends to pop up in most discussions involving somewhat reasonable punishments being mentioned.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 6 months ago (3 children)

Punishments in the US tend to be excessive though and people in the US somehow normalized it.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 6 months ago

As an American I completely agree. People lose sight of just how much time the amount of years actually can be, and just want to feel better about punishing bad people.

Most people who do something like this will live with the guilt for their entire lives. It will always come up in job interviews, it will hurt their social situations. Nightmares forever. But we just have to pile even more shit on so that the rest of us can ride the high horse.

And before anyone shows up, no, getting a longer or shorter prison sentence does nothing for the victim. They're already in as bad of a spot as they could be.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 6 months ago

Which has precisely zero to do with the submission.

[–] spoopy 1 points 6 months ago

Ironic considering in the USA this person would likely have a much more linent sentence for this specific crime