In light of the helicopter case today, I am a bit confused about the sentencing guidelines used by our cousins in England. In Manchester, Samantha Brown, 20, and her sister Toni Brown, 24, were sentenced in a horrific murder of Brown’s boyfriend and received brief jail sentences.
Brown (right) and her boyfriend had been at her sister’s house drinking when the boyfriend reportedly caught Brown in a intimate moment with another woman. When he accused her of being a lesbian, she reportedly grabbed a kitchen knife and stabbed him in the groin. When she fled the scene, Darvill allegedly begged Brown to call for a ambulance and she refused. She then stopped another woman from calling an ambulance. When the other woman called Darvill’s family, Brown again refused their pleas for her to give them the address for an ambulance or to call one herself.
After another hour, an ambulance was finally called but the man died from loss of blood.
Brown later said that she refused to call an ambulance for the dying man because she did not want the ambulance to wake her son who was sleeping upstairs.
Toni Brown was sentenced to just four years and Samantha Brown was jailed for just five years for the knife attack.
We have previously discussed criminal liability for people who fail to call police. In the United States, you cannot be charged for the failure to call police as a witness. However, Toni Brown crossed the line, even in the states, by actively barring others from calling an ambulance and her involvement in the crime which occurred on her premises. This is not a case involving the failure to meet the standards of a Good Samaritan but a failure to meet the standards of a human being.
This sentence seems shockingly out of proportion to the crime. These women warranted long jail sentences for crimes that should have shocked the conscience of the court.
Source: MSN
stan kohls
Unfortunately we have this thing in the west that says if u commit a crime then u go to jail = justice. Imagine the family of the guy that finds out that the two evil sisters that killed him will be given only 5 years in prison especially considering they had an hour to call the ambulance for him but instead chose to watch him bleed to death. Imagine how u would feel, srry but if people in this country could commit crime and “get away with it” as long as its their first offense then the US would be in even worse shape than its in now.
Also here is the University of Georgia link that confirms gender being the most important factor in whether someone is going to jail and how long they stay in jail.
http://www.terry.uga.edu/~mustard/sentencing.pdf
basically(as ive already said) if your a female then for some reason your sentence is a lot lighter than if ur male.
Also this science daily article
“Defendant’s Gender Affects Length of Sentence”
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/05/100525090554.htm
For all of those who are interested.
Anonymously Yours
1, August 4, 2010 at 10:39 pm
Blouise,
No Problem…If I had a problem, I think I could say so…
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And then I’d have to tell you to put a sock in it …
Blouise,
No Problem…If I had a problem, I think I could say so…
Anonymously Yours
1, August 4, 2010 at 6:02 pm
Blouise,
Did you tell me to stick a sock in it? Well where?
I was not aware that they still teach in High School. You mean they can? Since when, I thought it was preparation for the standardized testing…..
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Never ,,, ever ,,, would I tell you to stick a sock in it … I was expressing an opinion of another post
When I was in high school, they taught but that was so long ago … perhaps they have forgotten how …
Stan,
“Revenge may be emotionally satisfying, but it’s rarely effective.”
Unfortunately it’s not only a function of law (punishment as a replacement for personal revenge), it’s also a component of human psychology. A reflection of tribalism leftover from our days on the Savannah. Legal punishments must not only satisfy the function of operating as a deterrent to criminals, but they must provide adequate revenge to discourage the “self help” option of vigilantism.
That being said, I do not disagree with where your statement is coming from. The American penal system is generally a miserable failure and for a variety of reasons – not the least of which is inequity in sentencing. For some crimes, sending convicts to prison for long terms only accomplishes one thing: it teaches them how to be better (and usually more violent) criminals.
Example: if a bank robber stole billions of dollars from one bank, they’d go to prison forever. If a bank or financial institution steals billions of dollars from millions of people, they not only get bailed out when their Ponzi scheme collapses, their criminally culpable management gets paid bonuses with tax payer dollars.
My suggestion that long imprisonment may not be our best response to this terrible crime has nothing to do with the perpetrators being female. Having spent some time in jail myself many yrs. ago, I don’t think jail is a very effective means of changing criminal behavior. Many people simply learn how to be better criminals in jail, many become more angry and bitter, many make contact with more experienced and sophisticated criminals while imprisoned, and pursue these contacts when they’re released. Statistics show over 70% of those imprisoned re-offend upon release, frequently because they’re unable to find work. Many criminals with no history of violence learn to be violent in prison. Jamming prisoners together in overcrowded prisons has not proven to be a great idea. And it’s pretty expensive.
Many European countries have had success with brief periods of imprisonment, which include vocational training, family contact, therapy, victim restitution, etc. American prisons have little of this, once an offender becomes an adult.
From what I’ve read of this crime, it was an impulsive act, with no premeditation. These sisters don’t seem to have a history of violence or criminal activity, which was probably the reason for the relatively light sentence. Just because they did something terrible, does that mean our best response is to do something terrible to them?
This is not a moral issue for me, strictly existential: what is the best way to ensure they don’t do something like this again, short of killing them or imprisoning them for the rest of their lives?
Revenge may be emotionally satisfying, but it’s rarely effective.
bigkoala@verizon.net
Dear Fools
I don’t have a criminal record, but as part of an extortionist and criminal scheme USDOJ imprisoned me without criminal charges in county jails for 5 months.
I met a gal there who was 24 and weighed 105. She said she had a 250 lb boyfriend, an ex marine. They were drinking and she was being dramatic so she slapped his face. The neighbors called the cops. The boyfriend answered the door and the cops asked him why his face was red. He said she had hit him. They arrested her and the d.a. prosecuted her for slapping her boyfriend. She took a plea for probation. Then she missed her probation meetings because she was too embarrassed to tell her boss she was on probation so she got 6 months in jail.
Blouise,
Did you tell me to stick a sock in it? Well where?
I was not aware that they still teach in High School. You mean they can? Since when, I thought it was preparation for the standardized testing…..
Swarthmore mon, aka fka swarthmore mom,
I just read your threat thread. Wow, some people. lol
@stan kohls would you have so much sympathy for the criminal if it had been a man that killed a woman.
“It’s a big chunk out of a young woman’s life”
Would u be saying that “Its a big chunk out of a young mans life” after he killed a woman.
Of course not, but your the typical western protect the precious female at all cost male. Your disgusting chivalry isnt welcome, why dont u try telling the family of the young man that the precious female shouldnt get a heavy sentence because “its a big chunk out of her life”.
I swear guys like u disgust me, take that chivalry somewhere else.
I think its obvious why these two were given such light sentences. Its because they are white females(the most privileged spoiled group in the west) and their crime was against a male.
Thiers no way in hell a man would be given such a light sentence had he stapped a woman in her vagina and let her bleed to death.
I think this case is a good thing to bring up the next time women try to claim they are “oppressed” in the west.
so this is another hijack this blog, because I posted on it?
ah … put a sock in it
I don’t get this blog. There is a serious subject and only a few serious answers. Seems like a waste to me.
Yeah, I know about the competent hair dresser thingy….I am really reddish blond, but my hair dresser puts emphasis on graying the edges and throw throws the right amount of gray strands to make it appear evenly suited. All for 9 to 13 dollars, wherever I can find a deal….
Bryon is such a good person he placed the tag for you to click and go. I just guess that I where I saw you and bob esq exchanging ideals….so call it ranting other say fighting.
Buddha,
I was apparently tired and being oppositional defiant with knock on, knock off…
… the seaway is sometimes part of the river and sometimes not .. ie channels, locks etc … but that is all I know
Anonymously Yours
1, August 3, 2010 at 11:53 pm
Blouise,
Is St Lawrence in or out as a Great Lake?
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Oh great … sure, make me go back to high school … the river empties the Great Lakes into the Atlantic (unless the Corp of Engineers has been messing around again) … but, in all honesty, I wouldn’t swim in Lake Erie or eat anything caught there … “they” say it has been cleaned up but, come on … “they” lie a lot.
And … when one reaches a certain age … and if one has a competent hairdresser … one is always talked into going blond …… don’t ask me why … my hairdresser is from Brazil and I have trouble understanding everything he says
I have to go into the city tomorrow (Cleveland) to give a deposition. I witnessed an accident over a year ago and I guess someone is bringing a lawsuit against someone else. I was asked to report at such and such a time at the law offices to tell my tale. I wonder how surprised they’ll be when I pull out my papers. I went home after the event and wrote down everything that happened, signed and dated it. I did that because I didn’t know if I would be called as a witness in a trial of some kind. Never was but I’ll report with papers in hand to refresh my memory.
Blouise,
Is St Lawrence in or out as a Great Lake?
Buddha,
I meant Knock it’s horns OFF.
Blouise,
Oxygen, if it was really 215 just imagine how light headed the blonds really would be…..
SW mom,
I am real? That sounds like nietzsche moment…..
Swarthmore mom
1, August 3, 2010 at 11:37 pm
I know what you mean Blouise. AY is the only person on here that I have actually seen in person.
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Were you in charge of the K-9 Unit 🙂