Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

My life after 44 years in prison

interactive.aljazeera.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

11–20 of 130 posts

Re: My life after 44 years in prison

#11

Post by runarb »

cstross wrote: post #8
jacquesm wrote: post #5

44 years for attempted murder of a police officer, I guess with such a benchmark the next police officer murdering a civilian will be sentenced to at least double that given that they're supposed to set an example. Incredible. What standard of sentencing would essentially take someone's life away for an attempt . Makes you wonder how big a sentence you'd get if you succeeded, more than a lifetime?

His time served is actually twice as long as the average life sentence served for actual murder in the UK. (Some murderers are in for a "whole life" tariff -- ineligible for release on license -- but in general most are eligible for parole hearings after between 8 and 12 years and on average they serve roughly 20 years.) Just in case anyone was thinking that 44 years for attempted murder is a light sentence.

In Norway Arnfinn Nesset served 12 years in prison and 10 years on parole for murdering 22 patients: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arnfinn_Nesset . He may have killed as many as 138.

Re: My life after 44 years in prison

#12

Post by everyone »

tomcam wrote: post #7

Don't understand the title--article is not in first person

Yeah, I was dissapointed. Article had very scant mention of the mans experience, which was certainly an odd one and probably very interesting.

Title was basically clickbait. Article was really about the politics behind this issue.

Re: My life after 44 years in prison

#13

Post by leftnode »

Everything about this is ridiculous, but this especially so:

"Johnson’s release date was originally scheduled for earlier, but he ended up serving an additional eight months at the age of 69 for a juvenile shoplifting charge he received when he was 17."

How in any reasonable society is this justifiable? I re-read the sentence probably five times because I simply couldn't believe it.

Re: My life after 44 years in prison

#14

Post by kazinator »

derekp7 wrote: post #9
temuze wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think attempted crimes should get the same sentence as successful crimes. Imagine two people stabbed identical twins in the same spot with the same intent at the same time. One dies, one lives. Should they get different sentences? It's just a roll of the dice.

What if you turn this around -- two people punch two identical twins in the face. One twin dies from his injuries, and the person who punched him now faces at least involuntary manslaughter, whereas the other person just has a light assault charge. Should both people get charged with involuntary manslaughter, or should they both just get the lighter assault charge?

They should be treated differently because a fist is not considered a priori a deadly weapon. Punching someone isn't the use of lethal force. Death is almost certainly an unintended consequence of a punch.

Whereas, by contrast, the absence of death is the unintended consequence of, say, a shooting or stabbing (in any vital area of the body).

We can't go easy on an attempted murdered just because, luckily, the victim didn't die.

We also can't go easy on someone who killed using a punch just because death was unintended; the fact is that the victim died, and the fact is that not all punches are the same. They vary in intensity and area of delivery. A punch which kills (directly) must be quite a wallop, backed by a lot of rage.

Re: My life after 44 years in prison

#16

Post by badloginagain »

leftnode wrote: post #13

Everything about this is ridiculous, but this especially so: "Johnson’s release date was originally scheduled for earlier, but he ended up serving an additional eight months at the age of 69 for a juvenile shoplifting charge he received when he was 17." How in any reasonable society is this justifiable? I re-read the sentence probably five times because I simply couldn't believe it.

I'm surprised the sentences stack, I would have expected that if you have 5 jail-terms assigned to you, you would serve until the longest one.

American law sure favours punishment.

Re: My life after 44 years in prison

#17

Post by rayiner »

jacquesm wrote: post #5

44 years for attempted murder of a police officer, I guess with such a benchmark the next police officer murdering a civilian will be sentenced to at least double that given that they're supposed to set an example. Incredible. What standard of sentencing would essentially take someone's life away for an attempt . Makes you wonder how big a sentence you'd get if you succeeded, more than a lifetime?

In most states, the criminal laws are influenced by the Model Penal Code (MPC). The MPC punishes attempts as severely as completed crimes.

The MPC approach is logical. Criminal law punishes moral culpability, not bad outcomes. That's why the act of killing another human may be anything from murder to no crime at all depending on the killer's intent. A would-be murderer's moral culpability is not lessened by the fact that he is thwarted from actually accomplishing his objective.

Re: My life after 44 years in prison

#18

Post by staunch »

leftnode wrote: post #13

Everything about this is ridiculous, but this especially so: "Johnson’s release date was originally scheduled for earlier, but he ended up serving an additional eight months at the age of 69 for a juvenile shoplifting charge he received when he was 17." How in any reasonable society is this justifiable? I re-read the sentence probably five times because I simply couldn't believe it.

Don't forget the possibility that the reporting might be inaccurate.

Did he shoot harmlessly in the air during a robbery, and then get 44 years for "attempted murder" because he's black? Or did he leave a police officer in a coma for life after torturing him for days? Or did he get 8 years for attempted murder and then commit additional crimes while in prison?

We don't have enough information to know.

Re: My life after 44 years in prison

#19

Post by mrec »

badloginagain wrote: post #16
leftnode wrote: post #13

Everything about this is ridiculous, but this especially so: "Johnson’s release date was originally scheduled for earlier, but he ended up serving an additional eight months at the age of 69 for a juvenile shoplifting charge he received when he was 17." How in any reasonable society is this justifiable? I re-read the sentence probably five times because I simply couldn't believe it.

I'm surprised the sentences stack, I would have expected that if you have 5 jail-terms assigned to you, you would serve until the longest one. American law sure favours punishment.

Once you'd committed one crime, that would remove the primary deterrent against committing more (as long as they were no more serious than the first).

Re: My life after 44 years in prison

#20

Post by parennoob »

rayiner wrote: post #17
jacquesm wrote: post #5

44 years for attempted murder of a police officer, I guess with such a benchmark the next police officer murdering a civilian will be sentenced to at least double that given that they're supposed to set an example. Incredible. What standard of sentencing would essentially take someone's life away for an attempt . Makes you wonder how big a sentence you'd get if you succeeded, more than a lifetime?

In most states, the criminal laws are influenced by the Model Penal Code (MPC). The MPC punishes attempts as severely as completed crimes. The MPC approach is logical. Criminal law punishes moral culpability, not bad outcomes. That's why the act of killing another human may be anything from murder to no crime at all depending on the killer's intent. A would-be murderer's moral culpability is not lessened by the fact…

Very good point. I thought of this by applying it to myself – if someone attempted to murder me, but did not succeed, would I want them to be put away for a very long time? You bet.
Post reply on HN