Here is the codification of when homicide is justified in Louisiana, and here is an example of how the “shoot the burglar” provision of the defence is applied.
As you can see, this provision is not interpreted by the courts as giving householders free reign to shoot trespassers inside their homes. Note that the defence does not even touch on trespass outside the home other than car-jacking.
No. From my life’s experience, thieves tend to escalate their crimes. And someone mentioned he was already accused of armed robbery. So I was saying that had this vermin not been stopped he may well have gone on to worse atrocities.
And your assertion was in all 50 states, I can shoot someone in the yard and suffer no repercussions.
And even thieving, murdering scum have the right to not be executed without a fair trial.
But we as a society have a tradition, going back to the Bible and the Code of Hammurabi, that we have certain set penalties for crimes- we don’t allow the victim to decide what should happen to the criminal. One obvious problem with doing otherwise would be that it would mean that nice, easy-going, peaceable people would be victims of more crimes, since they wouldn’t want to do something really terrible to a criminal. Those people are good to have around- we don’t want to make their lives more unpleasant than the lives of nastier people.
We have noticed, over thousands of years of history, that allowing victims to mete out their own justice tends to lead to an escalating spiral of revenge and counter-revenge. It also means that you have no recourse if someone stronger and better-armed than you commits a crime against you. That sort of thing is destabilizing to a society. Most of the ones that did allow such things were violent, lawless places- not somewhere you’d want to live.
We have a long tradition, again going back to the Bible and the Code of Hammurabi, that the punishment should be proportional to the crime. More recently, we have a tradition that execution is not an appropriate and proportional punishment for theft.
I sympathize. I had my purse stolen once, and I still hope the guy who did it died a painful death. But I understand why our legal system doesn’t allow me to hunt him down and kill him, and I accept that the need for social stability and the rule of law trumps my desire for revenge.
I would be OK with her jumping out of the car, Macing the guy, taking back her purse, and getting the police involved. I wouldn’t be OK with her doing anything other than what was necessary to get back her property and hand the guy over to the police. Punishing the guy for what he did is the job of the police, not the victim. Doing otherwise encourages criminals to target those who are least able to fight back- women, the small, the weak, the elderly, and the handicapped.
It seems to me that the woman created a fatal hazard and displayed reckless disregard for public safety and used (disproportionately) deadly force in reaction to a non-violent crime. Lock her up.
Monumental fuck up? That a massive understatement. He shot and killed somebody for absolutely no reason whatsoever. I have zero sympathy for him and his “hell.” He should be treated like any other piece of filth murderer.
American courts also frown on “being one’s own judge.” If this had happened in America, the woman would almost certainly be prosecuted for homicide, and, given the generally harsher sentencing levels here, would likely end up doing more than three years in prison, even if the charge were knocked down to manslaughter.
I can’t see the first page now, so I’m not sure if I read that she has been in hiding for several years now. If that is the case, I hope when she is sentenced she gets some leniency on that score.
Note that US sentencing guidelines are only significantly harsher than elsewhere for drug-related crimes.
That said, Holland has a statutory maximum prison sentence of 15 years, or 20 for murder, which I find odd.
Untrue. Life sentences can still be received in Holland. The “Maximum 20 years” is a bit of a myth. Don’t feel too bad, most Dutch people perpetuate is as well. 
I think one was handed out today, no?
Could well be, I dunno. Which case was that?
It is fairly rare, but it happens. For example, the man who killed Theo van Gogh got life without parole.
Exactly.
I’d say it’s the job of the courts.
Not unless the seat of a car is capable of being assulted.
yeah, because chasing down and smashing to death someone who’s trying to get away from you is self defense.
You can’t kill someone for stealing a purse. Not even the government can legally do that. Why should a private citizen have more power to prosecute and sentence someone than our elected government does?
I am afraid you are misunderstanding me, I probably wasn’t very clear.
I am not saying that she knew about this or that this influenced her actions.
I am saying that I think Dutch legislation is a joke if this woman gets a sentence that is higher then the sentence against the criminal who has been in court a lot and is clearly a repeat violent offender.
Yes, she killed somebody but it doesn’t look like she did so on purpose and her life has been a living hell ever since.
He however, is a criminal little shit who would have continued his crimestreak if this hadn’t happened.
An important point, but that’s why they have trials.
You’re right, of course. It’s the job of the criminal justice system.
I don’t think so. She killed somebody. He had threatened someone with a weapon and stolen a purse. There’s a difference here.
What would be a joke would be a criminal justice system that let somebody off for killing someone because the victim was an “undesirable” of some sort.
With regard to the bit I bolded, how do you know this? From the quote in the OP
I don’t know the truth but the judge has a lot more info that you or I about the incident.
I think it’s fair to say that na reasonable person would assume that hitting someone with a car entails a significant disregard for the lives and safety of others. If you hit someone with a damned car, and then say “Well, gosh, I didn’t mean to kill them,” you’re engaging in a bit of Orwellian doublespeak. Everyone knows that a person struck or pinned by a car has a very good chance of dying.
I don’t like thieves either, but my understanding was that the Netherlands was a civilized nation that respected the rule of law. Civilized nations do not allow their citizens to kill each other for the alleged commission of petty crimes.