Rapists and murderers going free under old law

[strollingbones]

RALEIGH, N.C. - A cadre of murderers and rapists, several of whom victimized young girls, will be set free from North Carolina prisons this month after state courts agreed that a decades-old law defined life sentences as only 80 years long.

Dozens more inmates could be released in the coming months unless the state can figure out a legal recourse to keep them behind bars, officials said Thursday. Gov. Beverly Perdue called them "dangerous criminals" who have repeatedly been denied parole.

Rapists, murderers going free under old law - Crime & courts- msnbc.com

 

[RodISHI]

Typical the justice system is not always just. Eighty years does not really mean eighty years WTH!

Bowden was convicted in 1975 of two Cumberland County killings and initially sentenced to death. The Supreme Court later took him off death row, sending the case back for Bowden to get concurrent life sentences. He has been denied parole every year since 1987.

A guy who committed premeditated murder in SO CA got seven years back when I was a teen. It was an uncle this guy went after and shot. The guy had previously stated he was going to kill the uncle to other people multiple times. The prosecutors were too lazy to try him for murder so they let him plea bargain for a charge of manslaughter instead of standing on the premeditated murder charges.

This guy attack the uncle in a bar building my grandmother owned. The uncle did nothing more than walk into the bar and was walking back out when he saw this guy. The guy attacked and hit uncle with a pool stick as uncle tried to leave the building. The pool stick hitting uncle broke his watch into several thousand pieces. The guy then ran out to his car got a gun and ran over and shot the uncle as the uncle was started his pickup to leave. There was fifteen witnesses that saw this happen inside the bar. Two that saw the guy shoot uncle while he was trying to leave in his pickup. Seven years for murder. Now tell me that is supposed to be just. Two small children grew up without their dad because someone believes they have the right to murder another person.

 

[JD_2B]

RALEIGH, N.C. - A cadre of murderers and rapists, several of whom victimized young girls, will be set free from North Carolina prisons this month after state courts agreed that a decades-old law defined life sentences as only 80 years long.

Dozens more inmates could be released in the coming months unless the state can figure out a legal recourse to keep them behind bars, officials said Thursday. Gov. Beverly Perdue called them "dangerous criminals" who have repeatedly been denied parole.

Rapists, murderers going free under old law - Crime & courts- msnbc.com

There are "good conduct credits" USDOJ: USPC: Our History

Untitled

But I doubt that this applies in this case:
NC inmates being freed have 256 prison infractions

Some states, incidentally, consider a "life sentence" as only being 20 years.. Washington State is one of them.

However, consecutive life sentences are what leads to people generally spending the remainder of their natural lives in prison, well, that and indeterminate life sentences..

This is also something that lawyers are not allowed to inform the jury of, in a trial setting.

RCW 9.95.116: Duration of confinement — Mandatory life sentences — Crimes committed before July 1, 1984.
PRISON TERMS AND PAROLES ‑- PRISONER SERVING LIFE SENTENCE ‑- MINIMUM DURATION OF CONFINEMENT ‑- GOOD TIME CREDITS

All over the Dept of Corrections, there is a "day for day" rule, that allows the person to take a day off of their punishment for each day they serve without an infraction, which can reduce their total sentence down by a third or more, depending on the situation.. It is also supposed to be up to the correctional facility as to whether to parole them early.

My opinion-
I want to be a prosecutor. I want to see assholes that beat, rape, torture, and kill be put away.

I DO NOT want the DOC to turn into the DOP (Department of punishment) I liked it better when correcting behavior was the vision behind imprisoning people.

The US accounts for only 15% of the world's population, but 25% of people in the world who are behind bars, are behind AMERICA'S bars..

For a free fucking country, this just doesn't seem right.

 

[Diuretic]

I'm continually amazed when I read about sentences in some states in the US.. The multiples of numbers just don't make sense.

However I have to advise that in Australia several states have indeterminate sentencing provisions. That effectively means someone can be banged up for their natural life. Contrast that with sentencing for murder.

In my state the sentence for murder is life imprisonment. But the judge can set a non-parole period.

The general tariff at the moment for life is about 20-25 years non-parole.

We're a small state in population, just over 1.5 million so our crime rate isn't totally unmanageable. And our Corrections people are pretty damn good at their job. But in certain circumstances someone can be binned and not expect to get out alive. I don't know how that would go in the US though. Even here it was kicked out by the High Court until legislation in the states that had it was tightened up.

But some people should stay in until they die. And some should be kept out of circulation to give the public a rest. And all people in prison should be permitted to try a rehab programme.