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the bard of keppoch
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do they value money over lfethis post is a week late,but it seems to me that some people value money more than life e.g the law men of this country ? last week wee saw a guy with previous convictions for driving with no licence etc,get senteced to three and a half year for knocking down and killing a very young child ! and the same day another scottish judge sentenced a man to ten years for fraud ? so it seems they value money over life,lets here what people think,
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azzuri
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something I've also been wondering recently too.
Law only exists to protect people's property - this is the fundamental reason for laws existing.
It is up to the lawmakers i.e. the politicians to make sure that people's lives are valued over property and capital. Unfortunately, this is and probably will never be the case.
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wisnaeme
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Do they value money over life?
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Aye, that is a possibility;
Alister Wilson
John Moncton
Neil Couldbeck
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Morph
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This can be taken further Wisnaeme, look at the bail system where you can almost buy your freedom for a little more time. Can anyone tell me more about the bail system eg where the money raised goes? IMHO i would prefer people who commit crimes being held until they are sentanced. However if i have got the bail system wrong i would be happy for someone to correct me.
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Theresa
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Gentlemen,
These are important comments, revolving around THE most important question: What do people, individually and societally, value? The U.S. is currently struggling with this in many different ways, as you well know.
Perhaps we could frame the question philosophically to prompt answers to whether people or money (especially in connection with the penal system) are more important. Is moral freedom the same as legal right? For example, the man who killed that poor little child had the moral freedom to choose irresponsible behavior. But he did not have the legal right to commit vehicular homicide.
It's absolutely unjust that this kind of homocide got less of a sentence than the fraud charge. Although that homocide was in one sense 'accidental' because it was not premeditated, a human being lost his/her life. The fraud was premeditated and deliberate, but pilfering money is nowhere near as serious as killing someone, intentional or not. Both crimes have to do with irresponsible behavior, based on selfishness.
Another consideration: how much judicial discretion was exercised in assigning each sentence? In my book, people are more important than property. Property is important, but secondary to human well-being.
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the bard of keppoch
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correct me if im wrong but i think the guy in the fraud case fraudently obtained loans etc,the guy didnt rip off the money for himself,the guy driving the car was already warned by the courts not to drive again while he didnt have a licence,but he choose to do so again,sppeeding at 57mph in a 30 zone when he connected to the child,also he could see the family cross the road for more than 50 yards
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Aventinian
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| Morph wrote: | | This can be taken further Wisnaeme, look at the bail system where you can almost buy your freedom for a little more time. Can anyone tell me more about the bail system eg where the money raised goes? IMHO i would prefer people who commit crimes being held until they are sentanced. However if i have got the bail system wrong i would be happy for someone to correct me. |
Bail in Scotland in the vast, vast majority of cases is on the accused's own recognisance, ie without any financial backing. If there is a suspicion they will abscond, typically no bail is granted instead of enforcing enormous financial bails.
The bail money raised returns to the bailed person if they do not violate the conditions of their bail and, above all, don't do a runner. If the money is retained, it goes to the same place that fines etc go I would presume, although I don't really know. Notably, it is also a criminal offence in itself to skip bail.
It is disturbing, if you look at the statistics, how many crimes are committed by people who are already on bail - and how lenient the consequences are.
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Anthropos
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Re: do they value money over lfe | the bard of keppoch wrote: | | this post is a week late,but it seems to me that some people value money more than life e.g the law men of this country ? last week wee saw a guy with previous convictions for driving with no licence etc,get senteced to three and a half year for knocking down and killing a very young child ! and the same day another scottish judge sentenced a man to ten years for fraud ? so it seems they value money over life,lets here what people think, |
So which sentence do you think was too lenient/too harsh?
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Aventinian
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I don't presume to speak for anyone, but I don't necessarily think it was intended to be that simple. Perhaps 10 years for fraud can be justified on occasion, depending on how many lifes have been effected and ruined etc, but either way - all the material loss in the world cannot equate to the reckless killing of a child.
While I can have some sympathy with the reckless amongst us (I'm pretty reckless myself generally) the life of a child is worth far more than a wad of cash, regardless of size.
Then again, I'm not a consequentialist. Perhaps the fact that a fraudster intends to commit an evil act while a dangerous driver does not, and perhaps that is the primary factor behind criminal law. I am (quite thankfully) not a judge and as such don't have to make such decisions.
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