Punishment for murder

[Tokis-Phoenix]

What do you think is a decent minimum amount of time to send someone convicted of murder to jail for?

I am in disbelief at what i think is an unbelievably lenient punishment for murder given to this guy in the news article below;

"A football fan who killed a man with a snooker ball concealed in a sock has been jailed for four years"- full story;

BBC NEWS | England | Bristol | Hooligan jailed after fatal fight

What?!! 4years for murder?!! Talk about insulting the dead guys family! IMHO, such a brutal and mindless act of murder should be cause for the murder to be locked up for at least 8years.

 

[Mitsuo]

Yes, I agree that the four year sentence is way too lenient. It wasn't even in self-defense. I know watching sports and playing sports can become emotional, but to actually kill or intentionally harm another person in the name of one's team or sport is outrageous! I agree, AT LEAST 8 years should be served. Then after his release, he should be supervised at any sports function that he attends. His apparent adolescent behavior calls for him to be treated as an adolescent.

 

[Haruspex]

I vote for exile... only I don't know where yet. But truly, exiling criminals would be the best.
And bring back those criminals who are ready to compensate for their deeds.

 

[Mike Cash]

Swinging at the end of a rope strikes me as just about right. I believe the English have at some point in their past referred to it as dancing the Tyburn jig.

 

[Revenant]

The rope's not necessary.... wonder if the guy actually intended on killing the other guy. Somehow I don't think that was how it went. I'd imagine the guy only intended on winning the fight, and that he was a bit of an idiot in not thinking of the definite possibility that his weapon could quite easily kill a person.

 

[Goldiegirl]

Ignorance is no excuse for murder.

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

Regardless of whether the guy intended to kill the other man or not, his act of violence was brutal and uncalled for and was likely to kill the guy either way (or at the least cause very serious damage) and was really stupid- he should serve a longer sentence for this even if he didn't intend to kill the man.

 

[Clawn]

I would say, for coldblooded murder, the lowest amount of time in jail should be at least 15 years.

 

[Mike Cash]

The OP needs to clarify his initial post. Some of us are answering the broad general question which he opened with, while others (and indeed the OP himself) seem to be specifically discussing the single example he referenced.

Sloppily posed questions lead to sloppy discussions.

 

[Mars Man]

If I may be allowed to make a statement on the view that should be adhered to here.

What do you think is a decent minimum amount of time to send someone convicted of murder to jail for?

This question, in tandem with the thread's title, should be the focus here. That said, in that one example of the obvious position of the OP (female) is provided, I think it would be fair that comment on that, or examples to back up each poster's position, would be allowable--'sloppy?'. . . perhaps, but I would reason allowable here.

Let's see what transpires next.

 

[FrostPixie]

I thought that story was from England.
Unfortunately a lot of sentences don't match the crimes, especially for murder. Even in cases when no remorse is shown, a murderer will get 'life' and a minimum sentence of eight years. I believe that 'life' should mean life. There are cases where murderers have been freed then murdered again, something that could have been prevented by giving the murderer a tougher sentence in the first place.

If a minimum sentence to be served should be given, it should be at least around the twenty-year mark, depending on the nature of the crime.

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

The OP needs to clarify his initial post. Some of us are answering the broad general question which he opened with, while others (and indeed the OP himself) seem to be specifically discussing the single example he referenced.

Sloppily posed questions lead to sloppy discussions.

For a start i am a she not a he, secondly i think my opening post is clarified enough- the question/point of the thread is the first thing i typed (whats not to understand about it?), the example of a case then given is simply to shed some light on some of my feelings on such stuff. I doesn't matter if people only discuss that example or give example's of their own to help air their opinions (people are more than free to bring other material onto the thread as long as it is relevant in one way or another) as long as it relevant to the thread.
Anyways, i don't see anyone complaining but you Mike- leave the moderating to the moderators...It might not be the best laid out thread in the forum, but at the time i posted it i had little time to write a long drawn out opening post, so i got straight to the point with the main question of the thread- i think the thread is perfectly acceptable; if moderators tell me its not, then i'll alter it.

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

I thought that story was from England.
Unfortunately a lot of sentences don't match the crimes, especially for murder. Even in cases when no remorse is shown, a murderer will get 'life' and a minimum sentence of eight years. I believe that 'life' should mean life. There are cases where murderers have been freed then murdered again, something that could have been prevented by giving the murderer a tougher sentence in the first place.
If a minimum sentence to be served should be given, it should be at least around the twenty-year mark, depending on the nature of the crime.

I completely agree , i think if someone commits a particularly violent/brutal crime like rape or murder, then they should serve a real sentence, where they don't get let out early for "good behavior" or some such thing- as you said, life should mean life.

Remorse is obviously very important, the main issue with the offender showing remorse is deciding how sincere they really are about their remorse- but state of mental health and situation/circumstances are certainly very important as well.

There was one case of murder where i didn't actually think the murderer deserved a long sentence. One day a woman stabbed her husband dozens of times, she then cut up his corpse and put it in a suitcase and then abandoned the suitcase with her husbands remains in it in a park. However, it turned out that this women had been in a very abusive relationship with her husband- he was a very controlling individual and beat her on a regular basis and even forced her to have sex with him- this went on for years upon years in their marriage together and it made her quite mentally ill, she felt like a prisoner in her own home. One day when he tried to hit her she just snapped- she couldn't take it anymore, she grabbed a kitchen knife and stabbed him to death in a frenzy.

Now, in the above case of murder, i actually felt pity for the woman. She is not a murderer at heart- really, i actually think she was the victim in all of this. Her husbands violent and controlling behavior towards her drove her to depression and created many psychological issues within her, she felt she had nowhere to escape to, no one to call on for help. So its not surprising that one day she just snapped and stabbed him to death after one abuse too many from her husband.
In the above case, i think that the wife doesn't deserve prison and it certainly won't do anything positive for her- she'd been punished enough by her evil husband. And in a way, although i don't believe in capital punishment, IMHO her husband did deserve to die the way he did. I think the woman would be best sent off to a rehabilitation center where she can receive the proper help and care that she would so desperately need and more .

 

[Absynthia]

I support the death penalty. Too bad, we here in Europe don't have it.

 

[hideway]

I believe that the judicial system should aim at mentality changing and brainwashing to turn criminals into normal citizens.

And yes, for the large majority, it is possible.

As for physical offenders such as murderer, raping, kidnapping, the persons should be locked away from society for a long time as they are a menace to society as general.

Death penalty shouldn't be an option.