I’m talking about being convicted of first degree intentional homicide, murder, or whatever your state calls it. I’m not talking about manslaughter, or taking a plea bargin or anything.
so, say you kill someone in premeditated cold blood. Which state in the union has the most lenient sentence?
Alaska, Hawaii, Iowa, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, North Dakota, Rhode Island, Vermont, West Virginia, and Wisconsin (as of July 2000) do not have the death penalty. It’s probably one of those twelve.
Why? Are you going to kill someone?
Planning a vacation with someone you don’t like?
While not “states” as such IIRC there are some Native American tribes or Eskimo groups within the boundaries of the US whose tribal justice councils (or whatever they’re called) are allowed (or in the absence of a state/federal mandate take it on themselves) to decide punishments in cases up to manslaughter/murder and have occasionally let the perp go free in such cases as long as he takes cares of the dead man’s family provision wise. The reasoning is that the dead man cannot be brought back to life and the widow’s family will suffer without some way to bring in provisions.
I’m trying to remember where I read this.
Any of 14 “major crimes” committed on an Indian Reservation (including murder) come under federal jurisdiction. Tribal justice has jurisdiction only over non-major crimes, and in some cases not even then. See The Federal, Indian, and Military Justice Systems
Well, in Massachusetts, you can still vote while in prison for murder. And I seem to recall a newspaper story a few years ago about a group with way too much spare time on its hands trying to get a child rapist/murderer a Playstation in his prison cell.
Hmmmm… I know it sounds strange but I do remember this article/story clearly with respect to the murder/punish angle. I’ll see if I can find it. I think it was some remote Alaskan Indian Group living on an Artic Island or some such. Maybe they were under Canadian jusrisdiction.
Just a thought: Before this turns into an ugly debate (as questions about crime and punishment sometimes do), it might be useful for pkbites to define “lenient.”
No death penalty? Short prison sentence? Short maximum-security sentence followed by a move to medium security? Possibility of parole? There are many variations in sentencing, and a vague, subjective word like “lenient” could give rise to arguments based in miscommunication.
Again, just a thought.
I’d say it would be whichever state (Fla. Tex?) that executes the most murderers, instead of making them spend the rest of their lives in prison without the possibility of parole.
Peace,
mangeorge
Good point. By “lenient” I mean who gives the least amount of time in prison? On old episoides of “Law & Order” (before N.Y. re-established capital punishment) the penalty is 25 to life. Is there somewhere that gives less than 25 years. That’s not that long for murder if you ask me.
Of course, before Wisconsin did away with parole a life sentence would usually mean 14 years. That’s pretty lenient if you ask me.
The Bureau of Justice Statistics has a number of publications that may help. I couldn’t find anything though.
This isn’t what you asked for, but I thought I might list some incarceration rates by state, available at http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/abstract/p99.htm
Number of prisoners with sentences of more than 1 year per 100,000 population:
US total 476
Federal 42
State 434
Selected Indiv States (above 700):
DC 1314
Louisiana 776
Texas 762
…
(below 200)
Minnesota 125
Maine 133
North Dakota 137
New Hamp 187
Rhode Island 193
West Virginia 196
Vermont 198
dont know but hope spoofe goes there
The punishment for murder in Canada is life imprisonment. If it’s first degree, the parole ineligibility is 25 years.
Although there has been some experimentation with 1st Nations courts, I’m not aware of any that would have jurisdiction to hear a murder case. In any event, the crime of murder is punished under the Criminal Code, which is uniform across Canada.
[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by astro *
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Maybe you’re thinking of a pair of teenagers banished to an island by a tribal council in Klawock, Alaska (which is near the tip of the southeast panhandle). IIRC, they beat up a pizza delivery guy.
Incidentally, in Alaska, the maximum prison sentence for any single offense is 99 years. So, one murder, one conviction = 99 years max. Anyone care to go lower?