# A Slap on the Hand **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 12, 2005, 5:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-slap-on-the-hand/325857 "2005-10-12T05:29:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![rippingtons\_fan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rippingtons_fan/32/11767_2.png) [@rippingtons\_fan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rippingtons_fan)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2005, 5:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-slap-on-the-hand/325857/1 "2005-10-12T05:29:23Z")
In the USA: Do a lot of criminals really get off through legal technicalities and escape punishment for their crimes, or is this just a mistaken perception held by the public? Do the guilty end up going free? Do people literally get away with murder? Or is it just portrayed this way by the news media? ---
**Author:** ![dolphinboy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dolphinboy/32/330_2.png) [@dolphinboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dolphinboy)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2005, 12:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-slap-on-the-hand/325857/2 "2005-10-12T12:56:15Z")
IANAL, but from my experience, and in talking with a friend who is a Superior Court Judge, I would say that while some people do “get off” do to a technicality, it is not very common. DA’s are pretty good at making sure that doesn’t happen, particularly for serious crimes. Do guilty people sometimes end up going free? Do some people get away with murder? Of course that happens, look at OJ. As one person once put it “the LA PD framed a guilty man”. But our legal system is somewhat biased that way. It’s better for a hundred guilty men to go free than to imprison one innocent man. I think the media portrays the cases when someone gets away with something because they are unusual… not because it happens every day. ---
**Author:** ![dolphinboy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dolphinboy/32/330_2.png) [@dolphinboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dolphinboy)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2005, 12:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-slap-on-the-hand/325857/3 "2005-10-12T12:57:49Z")
Also, don’t forget the people who never get caught. They obviously get away with murder sometimes. ---
**Author:** ![whiterabbit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/cab0a1/32.png) [@whiterabbit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whiterabbit)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2005, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-slap-on-the-hand/325857/4 "2005-10-12T15:16:40Z")
No they don’t. At least not around here. I am (not because I needed their services) well acquainted with several public defenders. Not only do people not get off on technicalities left and right, they have a hard time getting them off at all. ---
**Author:** ![BF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b5ac83/32.png) [@BF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BF)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2005, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-slap-on-the-hand/325857/5 "2005-10-12T15:36:19Z")
[Anecdotal Evidence](http://home.hamptonroads.com/stories/story.cfm?story=92410&ran=96218) ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Slant](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c57346/32.png) [@Mr.Slant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Slant)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2005, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-slap-on-the-hand/325857/6 "2005-10-12T16:13:50Z")
This is not a huge miscarriage of justice, but it is a criminal justice technicality. I saw a guy get off for a probation violation because the following happenned. A) Guy Bad commited Crime 1. B) He was convicted of Crime 1 and placed on supervised probation. C) He was 3 months from the end of probation for Crime 1 when he commited Crime 2. D) Two months after C, he was convicted of Crime 2. He was sentenced to more supervised probation. E) Three weeks after his conviction for Crime 2, and one week prior to the end of supervised probation for Crime 1, his probation officer filled out paperwork to have his probation for crime 1 violated. He can’t file it because his supervisor is out of town on vacation. F) Ten days later, and three days after Guy Bad’s probation for Crime 1 has terminated, the supervisor gets back and signs the form, which is then submitted to the courts. G) At the court hearing, the public defender noted the discrepancy in dates and moved for a dismissal. Judge granted. Guy Bad is still on probation for Crime 2, but didn’t have to serve the 2-year suspended sentence for Crime 1. ---
**Author:** ![mrklutz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ebca7d/32.png) [@mrklutz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mrklutz)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2005, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-slap-on-the-hand/325857/7 "2005-10-12T16:17:42Z")
I don’t have any first-hand experience with the justice system, but considering that the U.S. has a very high incarceration rate compared to other developed nations (I don’t have a cite, but others on the Dope have provided ample evidence in the past), I would tend to believe that the courts aren’t turning away criminals in droves. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2005, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-slap-on-the-hand/325857/8 "2005-10-12T17:41:40Z")
In my state, the prison population has not only tripled in the last 15 years, but the average length of sentence is about 40-50% longer too. No more early release, time off for good behavior, and to get compassionate release, you must have two doctors testifying that in their opinion, you’ll be dead in 6 months. Hardly a slap on the wrist. ---
**Author:** ![whiterabbit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/cab0a1/32.png) [@whiterabbit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whiterabbit)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2005, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-slap-on-the-hand/325857/9 "2005-10-12T21:16:50Z")
Rereading, I wanted to add that I wasn’t saying it NEVER happens. Only that it’s not the sort of everyday thing some people think it is. Yeah, the system is screwy. ---
**Author:** ![pravnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8edcca/32.png) [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2005, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-slap-on-the-hand/325857/10 "2005-10-12T22:07:03Z")
“Those ‘technicalities’ have a name, Bobby. They’re called the Bill of Rights.” - Hank Hill ---
**Author:** ![deevee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/57b2e6/32.png) [@deevee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/deevee)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2005, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-slap-on-the-hand/325857/11 "2005-10-12T22:29:49Z")
With the world’s largets [per capita incarceration rate](http://www.csmonitor.com/2003/0818/p02s01-usju.html) I seriously doubt it. I love the U.S. but y’all gotta stop putting everybody in jail. And making jails private, for profit enterprises will only increase the rate. ---
**Author:** ![pocelene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/0ea827/32.png) [@pocelene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pocelene)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2005, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-slap-on-the-hand/325857/12 "2005-10-12T22:56:26Z")
They get away with things all the time. This week alone, the three criminal deaths were all due to criominals that escaped real punishment. One had two deaths caused by a fleeing unlicenced drunk driver. He was escaping from another minor accident because he had no license. But he had 2 prior driving under the influence, one a manslaughter, where they only took away his license, thus making this final chapter inevitable. Except it won’t be the final chapter. He will get a couple years at most for these manslaughters, and live to probably kill a fourth and fifth person. Another was a guy who killed his ex and two kids and then burned down the house and waited for the cops. A couple of years ago they divorced after he had beaten her up. Divorce and a restraining order was his only penalty. The third was a gang killer, released because his Miranda warning "said only that any of his false testimony could be used against him, but not that a _true_ confession would also be used against him. He never denied the gang killing. So immediately upon release he went and killed someone who had testifed for the prosecuton. ---
**Author:** ![Valgard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/7feea3/32.png) [@Valgard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Valgard)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2005, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-slap-on-the-hand/325857/13 "2005-10-13T02:44:16Z")
> [@pocelene](#): > > They get away with things all the time. > This week alone, the three criminal deaths were all due to criominals that escaped real punishment. > > One had two deaths caused by a fleeing unlicenced drunk driver. He was escaping from another minor accident because he had no license. But he had 2 prior driving under the influence, one a manslaughter, where they only took away his license, thus making this final chapter inevitable. Except it won’t be the final chapter. He will get a couple years at most for these manslaughters, and live to probably kill a fourth and fifth person. > > Another was a guy who killed his ex and two kids and then burned down the house and waited for the cops. A couple of years ago they divorced after he had beaten her up. Divorce and a restraining order was his only penalty. > > The third was a gang killer, released because his Miranda warning "said only that any of his false testimony could be used against him, but not that a _true_ confession would also be used against him. He never denied the gang killing. So immediately upon release he went and killed someone who had testifed for the prosecuton. ? The first two sound very much like two recent incidents here in the Bay Area so I’m assuming that these are those: > **[Suspect booked in cab-pickup crash](https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Suspect-booked-in-cab-pickup-crash-2565412.php)** > > A suspected drunken driver was in custody Monday after he ran a stop sign in San Francisco... -Drunk driver arrested on two counts of vehicular manslaughter and one count of causing great bodily injury. > **[SAN JOSE / Man kills pregnant girlfriend and 2 kids, police say / He...](https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/SAN-JOSE-Man-kills-pregnant-girlfriend-and-2-2602816.php)** > > SAN JOSE / Man kills pregnant girlfriend and 2 kids, police say / He allegedly slays... -Arrested and facing at least three counts of homocide. The last one doesn’t ring any bells but this story has some similarities: [http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/10/12/COLE.TMP](http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/10/12/COLE.TMP) They don’t mention the previous history of the drunk driver in the first case but I don’t see anything that indicates he will do “a few years” and then be back on the street, my money is on that guy being in extremely deep trouble. Likewise they don’t delve deep into the background of the husband in the second case but the family mentions troubles and abuse…sad to say that at least in this country those things often go unreported and thus unpunished. The third story doesn’t sound like yours but I’d like to see a cite for what you report - that doesn’t sound like any Miranda reading I’ve heard of.