|
Welcome to the International Skeptics Forum, where we discuss skepticism, critical thinking, the paranormal and science in a friendly but lively way. You are currently viewing the forum as a guest, which means you are missing out on discussing matters that are of interest to you. Please consider registering so you can gain full use of the forum features and interact with other Members. Registration is simple, fast and free! Click here to register today. |
![]() |
#241 |
Penultimate Amazing
Join Date: Apr 2015
Posts: 21,590
|
|
__________________
Blott en dag, ett ögonblick i sänder, vilken tröst, vad än som kommer på! |
|
![]() ![]() |
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
![]() |
#242 |
Nitpicking dilettante
Administrator Join Date: Mar 2007
Location: Berkshire, mostly
Posts: 48,840
|
Why don't you answer the question you're asked, rather than responding with an unrelated one?
To remind you, you said: How is 35 years on a par with the death sentence? To remind you, again, 35 years is the maximum, as is the death sentence. Please don't equivocate the maximum for one crime with the usual sentence for another, nor the maximum sentence for one crime in one country with that for a different crime in a different country. |
__________________
The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, and wiser people so full of doubts.Bertrand Russell Zooterkin is correct Darat Nerd! Hokulele Join the JREF Folders ! Team 13232 Ezekiel 23:20 |
|
![]() ![]() |
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
![]() |
#243 |
Penultimate Amazing
Join Date: Apr 2015
Posts: 21,590
|
|
__________________
Blott en dag, ett ögonblick i sänder, vilken tröst, vad än som kommer på! |
|
![]() ![]() |
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
![]() |
#244 |
Penultimate Amazing
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: Hong Kong
Posts: 50,622
|
Pretty much everyone feels sure about this. Hence the widespread approval of her life sentence. What's weird is you feeling sure that Gislaine Maxwell seriously traumatized many children, but don't like the sentence she's received.
What's doubly weird is that you think her sentence should be more lenient because maybe some of her victims escaped relatively unscathed. Like, she should get some kind of reward for failing to seriously traumatize all of her victims. Your position is morally perverse. |
![]() ![]() |
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
![]() |
#245 |
Penultimate Amazing
Join Date: Apr 2015
Posts: 21,590
|
|
__________________
Blott en dag, ett ögonblick i sänder, vilken tröst, vad än som kommer på! |
|
![]() ![]() |
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
![]() |
#246 |
Self Employed
Remittance Man Join Date: Nov 2009
Location: Florida
Posts: 31,524
|
Maxwell ran a rape ring.
What ******* "perspective" do you think we need to keep? |
__________________
Yahtzee: "You're doing that thing again where when asked a question you just discuss the philosophy of the question instead of answering the bloody question." Gabriel: "Well yeah, you see..." Yahtzee: "No. When you are asked a Yes or No question the first word out of your mouth needs to be Yes or No. Only after that have you earned the right to elaborate." |
|
![]() ![]() |
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
![]() |
#247 |
Penultimate Amazing
Join Date: Nov 2006
Posts: 10,988
|
Here are some numbers.
https://bflawmd.com/average-maximum-...common-crimes/ https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/facts-a...ntencing-rates To me it seems accurate to claim that 35 years is on par with a murder sentence. No, it's not identical but I don't think the phrase "on par" requires exactly identical. And 35 years for a murder doesn't appear to be "the usual sentence". In fact for the state I happened to find data for at the link above it's greater than the maximum for 2nd degree murder. |
![]() ![]() |
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
![]() |
#248 |
Penultimate Amazing
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: Hong Kong
Posts: 50,622
|
Europe is better. Europe produced her; Europe knows best how to deal with her. The American Child Rape Impresario, Jeffrey Epstein, should get a quintessentially American outcome: death in solitary confinement under suspicious circumstances. But the European Child Rape Impresario should get a European outcome: 12 years in a country club for wayward socialites, parole after 8, and maybe pay some reparations.
|
![]() ![]() |
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
![]() |
#249 |
Philosopher
Join Date: Jun 2006
Location: Leicester Square, London
Posts: 8,444
|
|
![]() ![]() |
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
![]() |
#250 |
Penultimate Amazing
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: Hong Kong
Posts: 50,622
|
|
![]() ![]() |
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
![]() |
#251 |
Penultimate Amazing
Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: US of A
Posts: 13,001
|
|
![]() ![]() |
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
![]() |
#252 |
Penultimate Amazing
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: Hong Kong
Posts: 50,622
|
|
![]() ![]() |
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
![]() |
#253 |
Penultimate Amazing
Join Date: Oct 2012
Location: Nelson, New Zealand
Posts: 17,187
|
|
__________________
I want to thank the 126 Republican Congress members for providing a convenient and well organized list for the mid-terms. - Fred Wellman (Senior VA Advisor to The Lincoln Project) ![]() |
|
![]() ![]() |
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
![]() |
#254 |
Penultimate Amazing
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: Hong Kong
Posts: 50,622
|
|
![]() ![]() |
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
![]() |
#255 |
Penultimate Amazing
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: Hong Kong
Posts: 50,622
|
Actually this explains Epstein's death. He was actually murdered somewhere else, in the future, and then they backtimed his body. Their goal was to avoid exposure as his co-conspirators, by erasing the whole timeline where he lived to go to trial, and ratted them out in a plea bargain.
|
![]() ![]() |
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
![]() |
#256 |
Penultimate Amazing
Join Date: Apr 2015
Posts: 21,590
|
It is probably true that someone used to a sheltered life would find prison far tougher than someone used to the rough and ready. Just being locked up for one day would be torture alone. In the UK so called 'white-collar' criminals are more likely to be sent to a soft open prison. They are also a target for other prisoners. Especially if they were once a policeman or something hated by the criminal classes. Maxwell would be seen as a 'nonce' and would need heavy protection.
|
__________________
Blott en dag, ett ögonblick i sänder, vilken tröst, vad än som kommer på! |
|
![]() ![]() |
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
![]() |
#257 |
Penultimate Amazing
Join Date: May 2010
Posts: 17,034
|
And as I've already explained, you don't actually understand the sentencing structures/guidelines "here in Europe" properly in any case... quite apart from it being irrelevant to compare apples from one country with oranges from another. (As just one hint: a murder sentence of "life, with a minimum of 12 years" - which you've misunderstood to be "a 12-year sentence" - does not mean that the person is out on parole after 2/3 of those 12 years. It doesn't even mean that the person is first considered for parole after 2/3 of those 12 years. It means that the person is first considered for parole after 12 years. And even when the person does get parole - which might be after 12 years of imprisonment, or might be after 16 years, or might be after 40 years - their life sentence means that they are closely monitored and evaluated for the remainder of their life on Earth; if the monitoring authorities determine that the person has gone back to posing a risk to the public, the person can be returned to prison, irrespective of whether they actually commit any further offences.) |
![]() ![]() |
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
![]() |
#258 |
Penultimate Amazing
Join Date: Oct 2012
Location: Nelson, New Zealand
Posts: 17,187
|
We have similar sentencing here, for example, Scott Watson, who was found guilty of double murder in 1999 (he didn't do it, but that is another story - link to thread if anyone is interested) and was sentenced to life with a minimum non-parole period of 17 years. That takes it to 2016, but five years later, he's still in jail, having been refused parole three times because he maintains his innocence.
|
__________________
I want to thank the 126 Republican Congress members for providing a convenient and well organized list for the mid-terms. - Fred Wellman (Senior VA Advisor to The Lincoln Project) ![]() |
|
![]() ![]() |
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
![]() |
#259 |
Penultimate Amazing
Join Date: May 2010
Posts: 17,034
|
Someone make this nonsense stop. Please. The term "white-collar criminals" refers solely and exclusively to the type of crime for which the person has been convicted and sentenced. It does not refer to the demographic status of the person who committed the crime. A person attracts the label "white-collar criminal" only on account of that person having committed a "white-collar crime". Not the other way round. So-called "white-collar crimes" are loosely defined as crimes which involve no physical violence, no threatening or sexual behaviour, no intimidation etc. So, for example, credit card fraud is a white-collar crime; while bank robbery is not. And it almost goes without saying that those who are convicted of white-collar crimes are typically housed in less restrictive, less secure conditions than those who've been convicted of those crimes which are not white-collar in their nature. I would hope that it wouldn't be difficult to understand why that should be the case. |
![]() ![]() |
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
![]() |
#260 |
Penultimate Amazing
Join Date: May 2010
Posts: 17,034
|
Yes. And indeed, this is one of those more-than-unfortunate Catch-22 problems: those criminals who believe they've been wrongfully convicted will (almost by definition) a) protest their innocence, and b) find it effectively impossible to accept that they did wrong. And that, in turn, means that it will be much more difficult - in some instances impossible - for them to get released from prison, even after the minimum determinate sentence of imprisonment has been reached. There are a few sad examples of people who have refused to "come to terms" with their crimes, which has directly resulted in them being repeatedly denied parole long after their minimum prison sentence has been exceeded - but then ultimately they've been exonerated on appeal. |
![]() ![]() |
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
![]() |
#261 |
Penultimate Amazing
Join Date: Apr 2015
Posts: 21,590
|
|
__________________
Blott en dag, ett ögonblick i sänder, vilken tröst, vad än som kommer på! |
|
![]() ![]() |
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
![]() |
#262 |
Penultimate Amazing
Join Date: Apr 2015
Posts: 21,590
|
In Finland - which is the same inquisitorial/tribunal-style criminal justice system as Germany - it is an enshrined right for a criminal to be released after two thirds. You saw with Christian Brückner's case (McCann prosecutors), the state had to go to court to stop his release 2/3 of the way through. Likewise, Norway had to do this with Brevik after his time was up (just 12 years, but they have managed to keep him banged up).
They idea of 'showing remorse' is pretty much old hat even in the UK. Good behaviour is enough and you are out on parole. |
__________________
Blott en dag, ett ögonblick i sänder, vilken tröst, vad än som kommer på! |
|
![]() ![]() |
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
![]() |
#263 |
Penultimate Amazing
Join Date: May 2010
Posts: 17,034
|
Firstly, you simply referred to "here in Europe" - as opposed to the USA. If you'd meant "mainland Europe" (or, even more specifically, your own special definition of mainland Europe, headed by Finland Sweden and Norway... ![]() ![]() And secondly, Wikipedia seems to be under the impression that in Germany, for example, the mandatory sentence for murder is life imprisonment, with a minimum incarceration period of 15 years before any parole application can be made. It further notes that the "usual" minimum incarceration period is 18 years, with the more serious cases requiring 23 years inside before parole can be applied for: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder...0(%C2%A7%20211). So, y'know..... |
![]() ![]() |
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
![]() |
#264 |
Penultimate Amazing
Join Date: Apr 2015
Posts: 21,590
|
No, many of these 'white-collar' criminals (Jeffrey Archer, Jonathan Aitken, etc) have committed serious crimes. You can't just brush it off as 'credit card fraud'. This was serious corruption. Compare and contrast to some burglar making off with a flat screen tv.
And it is true, 'white collar' criminals are often middle-class or even upper class. Ghislaine Maxwell procured teenage girls for Jeffrey Epstein. Many of them returned time and again for the money, when they could easily have desisted or gone to the police. They even recruited their friends to join in. However, of course, these girls are rightly protected by law. There was a time when being 'talent spotted' was considered flattering. Naomi Campbell was approached by a model talent spotter in the street. So, when Maxwell approached young women in public places inviting them to join the Les Wexnar (_sp?) and Epstein's various 'model agencies', many of them would have jumped at the chance, likewise going to celebrity packed parties int he hope of bagging a rich guy. Let's face it, Trump met Melania through his model/escort agency. Whilst it is damaging for young teenage girls to be procured as prostitutes, for many it was a quite voluntarily particapation. Becuase they were underage, this is the only reason it is illegal, not that they were necessarily harmed. There is quite fine line here between prostitution and trophy 'footballers wives and girlfriends' (WAG's): for him, a rich handsome athlete on £30,000 per week and her a plastic bimbo with the whole works - boob jobs, botox, hair extensions - whose only ambition is to marry a rich guy who can provide her with a luxurious home, exotic holidays, jewels, clothes, no need to work, cleaning ladies, nannies, etc. This is what many of the girls procured by Maxwell (and Guiffre, let it be said) were attracted by: they had overseas university courses paid for by Epstein in return for 'massage' sessions, holidays on his Caribbean island, Texas ranch and wild parties with famous politicians, rock stars, films stars and top scientists. So to equate it with the crimes of the lower classes or murder is ridiculous. Sure, it is rightly illegal to run prostitution rings, but let's keep perspective. |
__________________
Blott en dag, ett ögonblick i sänder, vilken tröst, vad än som kommer på! |
|
![]() ![]() |
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
![]() |
#265 |
Penultimate Amazing
Join Date: Apr 2015
Posts: 21,590
|
|
__________________
Blott en dag, ett ögonblick i sänder, vilken tröst, vad än som kommer på! |
|
![]() ![]() |
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
![]() |
#266 |
Penultimate Amazing
Join Date: May 2010
Posts: 17,034
|
I'll try again: If a society aristocrat is convicted of (say) murdering his wife, I can give you a 100% assurance that a) this does not count as an instance of a "white-collar crime" (and nor is the perpetrator a "white-collar criminal"), and 2) the perpetrator will be being sent to exactly the same type of medium-high-security prison as (and might end up sharing his cell with) an illiterate sheet-metal worker who was convicted of murdering his own wife. |
![]() ![]() |
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
![]() |
#267 |
Lackey
Administrator
Join Date: Aug 2001
Location: South East, UK
Posts: 97,813
|
|
__________________
I wish I knew how to quit you |
|
![]() ![]() |
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
![]() |
#268 |
Philosopher
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: Sweden
Posts: 6,823
|
It's accurate to say that, internationally speaking, an effective prison sentence of 15-20 years or longer is the equivalent of life imprisonment or the death penalty.
Note that this is the effective prison sentence, not the notional one where people are sentenced to X years in prison yet are released after having served only half of that. |
__________________
We would be a lot safer if the Government would take its money out of science and put it into astrology and the reading of palms. Only in superstition is there hope. - Kurt Vonnegut Jr And no, Cuba is not a brutal and corrupt dictatorship, and it's definitely less so than Sweden. - dann |
|
![]() ![]() |
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
![]() |
#269 |
Self Employed
Remittance Man Join Date: Nov 2009
Location: Florida
Posts: 31,524
|
What is being argued? Yes courts aren't psychic so don't know how long anyone is going to live. We get it.
|
__________________
Yahtzee: "You're doing that thing again where when asked a question you just discuss the philosophy of the question instead of answering the bloody question." Gabriel: "Well yeah, you see..." Yahtzee: "No. When you are asked a Yes or No question the first word out of your mouth needs to be Yes or No. Only after that have you earned the right to elaborate." |
|
![]() ![]() |
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
![]() |
#270 |
Penultimate Amazing
Join Date: May 2010
Posts: 17,034
|
You've not read - and/or understood - it properly. "Totschlag" is the equivalent to "manslaughter". And, as the article points out (but which you further misunderstand). the reason why it's rare for a conviction for "totschlag" (manslaughter) to carry a life sentence is because if the crime was that grave, it would usually qualify as murder ("mord"). I suggest you read it through again, perhaps. |
![]() ![]() |
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
![]() |
#271 |
Penultimate Amazing
Join Date: Nov 2006
Posts: 10,988
|
That needs some explanation before I would agree it's accurate. It would appear to be the exact opposite of accurate.
Are you trying to say that those sentences would be the "analog" rather than the "equivalent"? Is this a correct paraphrase of what you are trying to say: In Europe a person would face 15-20 years for a crime that would get life or death in the US? |
![]() ![]() |
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
![]() |
#272 |
Penultimate Amazing
Join Date: Apr 2015
Posts: 21,590
|
Erratum: I was wrong about Breivik: he received a 21-year sentence. However, this is not standard (bear in mind he killed 77 people, most of them young people and injured a further 300).
(Puts Maxwell's possible 35-year sentence into perspective, eh?)
Quote:
What I was thinking of is that Norway has to apply for a renewal of Breivik;s sentencing every so often, or he'd be out on parole at the 14-year 'maximum' mark.
Quote:
|
__________________
Blott en dag, ett ögonblick i sänder, vilken tröst, vad än som kommer på! |
|
![]() ![]() |
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
![]() |
#273 |
Penultimate Amazing
Join Date: Apr 2015
Posts: 21,590
|
She is not that different from Cynthia Payne, who was considered middle-class and was out of prison in four months.
Quote:
Why aren't Maxwell's johns being prosecuted? They were the ones demanding teenage girls at the parties and presumably demanding and paying for them? |
__________________
Blott en dag, ett ögonblick i sänder, vilken tröst, vad än som kommer på! |
|
![]() ![]() |
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
![]() |
#274 |
Penultimate Amazing
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: Hong Kong
Posts: 50,622
|
She was out of prison in four months not because of her class, but she was facilitating prostitution between consenting adults. That's a fairly minor crime, compared to sex trafficking children.
Your sense of proportion is wildly inhuman.
Quote:
Quote:
Why are you so opposed to prosecuting Maxwell for child sex trafficking? |
![]() ![]() |
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
![]() |
#275 |
Philosopher
Join Date: Oct 2013
Posts: 9,485
|
|
![]() ![]() |
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
![]() |
#276 |
Penultimate Amazing
Join Date: Apr 2015
Posts: 21,590
|
|
__________________
Blott en dag, ett ögonblick i sänder, vilken tröst, vad än som kommer på! |
|
![]() ![]() |
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
![]() |
#277 |
Philosopher
Join Date: Oct 2013
Posts: 9,485
|
|
![]() ![]() |
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
![]() |
#278 |
Penultimate Amazing
Join Date: Oct 2012
Location: Nelson, New Zealand
Posts: 17,187
|
Yep, it sure does, but not in the way you are thinking
It shows that Norway's criminal sentencing is wholly inadequate to deal with a crime of that magnitude. Breivik should have got life with no possibility of parole.... ever! I generally oppose the death sentence, but I would have no problem with its use for such an individual. |
__________________
I want to thank the 126 Republican Congress members for providing a convenient and well organized list for the mid-terms. - Fred Wellman (Senior VA Advisor to The Lincoln Project) ![]() |
|
![]() ![]() |
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
![]() |
#279 |
Penultimate Amazing
Join Date: Oct 2012
Location: Nelson, New Zealand
Posts: 17,187
|
|
__________________
I want to thank the 126 Republican Congress members for providing a convenient and well organized list for the mid-terms. - Fred Wellman (Senior VA Advisor to The Lincoln Project) ![]() |
|
![]() ![]() |
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
![]() |
#280 |
Lackey
Administrator
Join Date: Aug 2001
Location: South East, UK
Posts: 97,813
|
|
__________________
I wish I knew how to quit you |
|
![]() ![]() |
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
![]() |
Bookmarks |
Thread Tools | |
|
|