The Price of Murder

There are many different sentencing for the taking of human life?, some headlines, Man Gets Life, Plus 120 Years, Life Without Parole, Freed After 12 Years for Murder, Mandatory Sentence of Life in Prison, etc.,. We know our Justice system need repairs, most prisons are over crowded and busting at the seams, a Pew Center of the States reported in 2007 , listed 7.3 million people in US prisons, probation or parole system, or 1 in every 34 adults. For this article we will try to focus on a price for murder, that is open, plain and fair. All life is valuable to someone, lets seriously limit plead bargain,  back room dealing, shorten murder trial cases where there is no doubt of guilt, have all people guilty of murder(s) serve ninety percent of the time they are sentence to, for teens involved in murder, lets give most a second chance, after serving their time, with rehabilitation and strict probation. 

According to Wikipedia, encyclopedia, murder, is defined in common law countries, is the unlawful killing of another human being with intent or malice aforethought. A Sumerian Code of Ur-  Nammu written sometime between 2100 and 2050 BC states, “If a man commits a murder, that man must be killed.” Many things have change since then; we have witness some making good with their life , after serving time for convictions of taking a llife, in some cases, Don King, Charles Dutton come to my mine. Some murder cases have mitigating circumstances, that can allow a person to be found guilty of “manslaughter”, if it can be proven that the killer suffer from a condition that affected their judgment, depression, stress, medication, etc., may be taken into account.

 

Some very brief descriptions of murder – First degree murder is a killing which is deliberate and premeditated. Second degree Murder is a non-premeditated killing, resulting from an assault in which death of the victim was a distinct possibility. Manslaughter is the unlawful killing of a human being without malice or premeditation, either express or implied. Voluntary Manslaughter occurs when the defendant kills with malice aforethought, but there are mitigating circumstances. Involuntary Manslaughter is the killing of a human being in which the offender had no prior intent to kill. 

Sentencing for murder should be as plain as the price for gas , that is posted before you enter a service station. If someone committed murder(s), they should know up front the time they will serve if convicted. We know some people have committed the worse crime , taking a life, some can not be rehabilitated, that’s a fact, some people are evil to the core, lets face it, a price need to be paid, I don’t mean more for well paid lawyers. First, second degree, manslaughter, or murder of any kind,  a price need to be paid because murder is wrong and has been wrong as long as life has been life,  we need a price for murder that makes the price for murder equal for all.

Debating weather life sentences for juveniles are cruel and unusual or in violation of the Constitution, because most young people can or have the ability to change for the betterment with help. Some leading experts note that teen brains have not yet develop to the fullness of an adult brain and they are prone to some ill actions and decisions. Despite that more than 2,500 juveniles are serving life without parole and the United States having less then 6% of the worlds population has more people in prisons for a number of crimes from drugs, rape, fraud, arson, assault to murder and other crimes then any other country.

How should time for murder be dealt out?, across the board in like crimes for all murders, base on the crime, their age, and the truth. The system we now have is unfair to some base on their race, lack of wealth, and some current laws. Here’s one  brief way, how punishment for murder could be handed out for people found guilty, beyond a reason of doubt – First Degree Murder,  could/should equal 35 to 40 years, Second Degree Murder, equals 20 to 25 years, Voluntary manslaughter, 15 to 20 years,  Involuntary manslaughter 10 -15 years,  a murderer would have to serve 90% of the sentencing time, true cooperation and good behavioral could count for a 10% reduction in time.   Speaking the truth should be an important part of any trial and the sentencing, it would help reduce time, court expenses, agony in some cases. Days of some truth seen to have rule out in life and in courts,  in some not so real way, those born before 1955 may remember when killers would break down and confess to a murder when confronted on the Perry Mason Show, often in life lies rule and are carried to graves, hardly anyone  says they are guilty of anything from a fender bender to a murder, people lie hard. Juveniles could be sentence to 20 % less time for the same crimes as adults in most murder cases. Some may argue a murder is a murder, weather an adult pulls the trigger or a juveniles does it, agree, but an adult should/is more responsible, sure that will not help victims or their family, but we should not hold people who are not yet adults to the exact punishments as  adults are held to.

Serial murders and those committing two or more murders could face life without parole, or death in some cases. The current system of some people killing and walking out of prison after serving less than a dozen years for taking a life, values the loss of life too little, life taken can not be given back like making a fresh loaf of bread,  the punishment for taking a life must show how cherish any human life is, no matter who’s life it is. All families and love one’s left behind deserves a fair and just act, no family or love  one who suffers a lost of  life, that will never be replace, should get any thing less then another family.

Cherish Life,

Larry J

Thanks to The Pew Center of the States, and W ikpedia Encyclopedia.

Saturday, December 5th, 2009, 3:03 pm. Filed under home, News.