Crimes and punishment ; What say the law of your country

[Johan]

Let's compare the laws of our countries regarding crimes and the punishment they require.

France
Assassinat (First Degree Murder) : Life in jail
Meurtre (Second Degree Muder) : 30 years in jail
Violence volontaire ayant entrainées la morts sans intention de la donner (a manslaughter that caused death) : 15 years in jail
Homicide Involontaire (killing someone without the will to cause him harm) : 3 years in jail
Viol (Rape) : 15 years in jail
Viol sur mineur (Child Rape) : 20 years in jail

 

[tvstrip]

Interesting topic. Assuming these are the maximum penalties and not necessarily the average sentence. I have a feeling that there's going to be a trend of Death/Life sentence for anything involving murder, 20 to life for other violent crimes.

Japan

Murder: Death
Note: This in itself could be topic. Instead of "degrees", Japan has a nine-point system for determining if a murder qualifies for a death sentence, looking at things like how the crime was committed; especially the manner in which the victim was killed, impact on victims, society, etc. It can take notoriously long from trial to execution though, just look at the fact that Shoko Asahara (The Tokyo Sarin Gas Cult leader) still hasn't been executed. Compare that with China, which famously carries out death sentences within a week and the cost of the bullet billed to the family.

Treason: Death (Don't think this has ever happened after WWII)

Rape: Minimum 3 yrs, Max 20
But if you're committing other crimes on top of this (e.g. Robbing and raping) this can get bumped up to 30 yrs to life.

In addition, sentences can be with or without work (aka "hard labour")

Source: http://eiyaku.hounavi.jp/taiyaku/m40a04502.php

One last unique thing about Japan: the conviction rate is over 99%!

 

[288gto]

Let's compare the laws of our countries regarding crimes and the punishment they require.

France
Assassinat (First Degree Murder) : Life in jail
Meurtre (Second Degree Muder) : 30 years in jail
Violence volontaire ayant entrainées la morts sans intention de la donner (a manslaughter that caused death) : 15 years in jail
Homicide Involontaire (killing someone without the will to cause him harm) : 3 years in jail
Viol (Rape) : 15 years in jail
Viol sur mineur (Child Rape) : 20 years in jail

i always knew french law sucked, 20 years for child rape, that's a joke

 

[Rey C.]

For most of the crimes in the example, those would be crimes dealt with on a state by state basis. For example, some states have the death penalty for first degree or capital murder, others do not. Federal crimes carry various sentences, like counterfeiting, money laundering, drug or gun smuggling, terrorism, committing crimes across state lines, etc. But the joke in the U.S. is that going to Federal prison for a non-violent or financial crime is a Club Fed sentence (minimum security Federal prisons are apparently relatively cushy).

 

[tvstrip]

I'm interested in seeing how many countries have the death penalties for non-murder and non-treason crimes.

Two countries I know who do this are China and North Korea.
In China, drug offenses and corruption qualify, most recently a government official responsible for one of the health scandals was executed. Interestingly murder will get you a firing squad, while any other crime is lethal injection in a "Execution Van".

In North Korea the list of capital offenses is ridiculous, including "consumption of media not approved by the government".