Del. Charlotte Crutchfield proposes bill to ban felony murder charges for people under 25

[Anonymous]

and people wonder why MD has gone downhill. I present exhibit A.
Murder excuse makers. Free the robber killers. In a state with virtually no bail anymore either.

[Anonymous]

That’s ridiculous. Felony murder is vile.

[Anonymous]

I must've missed the propaganda piece today spinning murdering innocent people in the commission of a felony as mere happenstance

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No. They get charged for what they did, they don’t get charged for some magical circumstantial bullshit.

It could happen to you.

I mean, it only happens to you if you are trying to rob a store owner or employee at gunpoint, so no it couldn’t happen to me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:As a person who considers myself to be a Democrat, I'm speechless. I feel like my party has lost all common sense and any notion of integrity, accountability and morality. What is wrong with these people?

+1. I am in NYC, where rapists and thieves roam freely after 20+ arrests and releases. Speechless and turned off and seriously considering voting Republican in the next election. If only the Reps could come up with a sane, centrist candidate! It's depressing across the political spectrum. I liked Hillary. I liked Bloomberg. Romney & McCain. Bill & Barack. We don't get many competent, moderate candidates these days.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I agree that brains are not fully mature until mid-20s. However we still need to enforce accountability and deterrents to recidivism. So what's the plan?

Oh the irony.

On one hand Democrats say those under 25 don't have fully mature brains and cannot make sound judgments, therefore they should be let off easier for murder. Yet at the same time Democrats are all demanding teenagers and pre-teens who are way younger than 25 be given open access sex change operations and hormonal therapies to turn them trans because they have sound judgment that young to determine their life long sexuality.

Can't have it both ways. If kids have fully formed enough brains at 13 to choose trans procedures according to Democrats, then people sure a sh!t have enough of a fully formed brain to know murder is wrong by 23 years old.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think the lawmaker didn’t go far enough. The felony murder is a terrible concept for any age. It’s devastated lives.

Yes, many getaway drivers and robbery accomplices have gone to jail for felony murder. Seems Baltimore wants to encourage crews and gang activity.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I agree that brains are not fully mature until mid-20s. However we still need to enforce accountability and deterrents to recidivism. So what's the plan?

Oh the irony.

On one hand Democrats say those under 25 don't have fully mature brains and cannot make sound judgments, therefore they should be let off easier for murder. Yet at the same time Democrats are all demanding teenagers and pre-teens who are way younger than 25 be given open access sex change operations and hormonal therapies to turn them trans because they have sound judgment that young to determine their life long sexuality.

Can't have it both ways. If kids have fully formed enough brains at 13 to choose trans procedures according to Democrats, then people sure a sh!t have enough of a fully formed brain to know murder is wrong by 23 years old.

That's different!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think the lawmaker didn’t go far enough. The felony murder is a terrible concept for any age. It’s devastated lives.

Yeah, the murdered people keep failing to show up for parole hearings too!

[Anonymous]

Well this is asinine. I'm a democrat, but I'd favor *lowering* the felony murder charge to 12, to be tried as an adult. If you don't know and understand that murder is wrong by the time you're 12--or hell, even 7, then you cannot be helped. It has nothing to do with when brains fully mature -- even children understand that killing a human being is wrong.

Sadly, in the world we have created, this may no longer be true. I worked in an inner-city mental health program for minors in Baltimore nearly 20 years ago. Even then, these kids did not have anyone in their lives teaching them this. Most people on this board have no idea what these children’s lives are like. And there was, even back then, a lot on $ and resources aimed at the problem.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What jurisdictions have eliminated it? It’s very common and rightfully so. Don’t commit felonies because they quite often result in unintended consequences like someone dying.

So you think it's ok to charge people with something they didn't do? I don't.

So the victim's life means nothing to you?

George and Harry try to rob a store. The storeowner, John, pulls out a gun to defend himself, and accidentally shoots a customer, Tom. George and Harry are then charged with felony murder in Tom's death.

Do you think that George and Harry murdered Tom?

Yes. The death of a customer during that kind of robbery is reasonably foreseeable, and people are presumed to intend the reasonably foreseeable consequences of their actions. This isn’t even a hard case. Where felony murder starts to get potentially unjust is scenarios where George and Harry’s friend Pat illegally provides them with the Glock used in the stickup a few days earlier, with some idea they might be up to no good but not a lot of detail about their plans. Not sure how often that scenario is charged as felony murder rather than some lesser kind of accomplice theory.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:"Felony Murder" gets so abused as a charge; a lot of jurisdictions have eliminated it. It's been used to charge people with murder when a COP shoots someone else (I'm robbing a bank, a cop shoots my co-robber, I get charged with felony murder), which seems to be nonsense. Felony murder means that people who never intended to kill anyone, who never held a weapon, and who may not even have been in the room when someone is killed, can be charged with murder. Why not just charge them with the actual crime they committed?

Because they created, intentionally, the kind of dangerous situation that puts people’s lives at risk in precisely the way that you describe. What’s the alternative, hold no one accountable for such deaths on the grounds that it was just some sort of unforseeable accident?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What jurisdictions have eliminated it? It’s very common and rightfully so. Don’t commit felonies because they quite often result in unintended consequences like someone dying.

So you think it's ok to charge people with something they didn't do? I don't.

So the victim's life means nothing to you?

George and Harry try to rob a store. The storeowner, John, pulls out a gun to defend himself, and accidentally shoots a customer, Tom. George and Harry are then charged with felony murder in Tom's death.

Do you think that George and Harry murdered Tom?

Yes. The death of a customer during that kind of robbery is reasonably foreseeable, and people are presumed to intend the reasonably foreseeable consequences of their actions. This isn’t even a hard case. Where felony murder starts to get potentially unjust is scenarios where George and Harry’s friend Pat illegally provides them with the Glock used in the stickup a few days earlier, with some idea they might be up to no good but not a lot of detail about their plans. Not sure how often that scenario is charged as felony murder rather than some lesser kind of accomplice theory.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I agree that brains are not fully mature until mid-20s. However we still need to enforce accountability and deterrents to recidivism. So what's the plan?

Oh the irony.

On one hand Democrats say those under 25 don't have fully mature brains and cannot make sound judgments, therefore they should be let off easier for murder. Yet at the same time Democrats are all demanding teenagers and pre-teens who are way younger than 25 be given open access sex change operations and hormonal therapies to turn them trans because they have sound judgment that young to determine their life long sexuality.

Can't have it both ways. If kids have fully formed enough brains at 13 to choose trans procedures according to Democrats, then people sure a sh!t have enough of a fully formed brain to know murder is wrong by 23 years old.

Ding ding ding.... we have a winner.

Logic is an amazing tool.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What jurisdictions have eliminated it? It’s very common and rightfully so. Don’t commit felonies because they quite often result in unintended consequences like someone dying.

So you think it's ok to charge people with something they didn't do? I don't.

So the victim's life means nothing to you?

George and Harry try to rob a store. The storeowner, John, pulls out a gun to defend himself, and accidentally shoots a customer, Tom. George and Harry are then charged with felony murder in Tom's death.

Do you think that George and Harry murdered Tom?

Yes. Tom would be alive if George and Harry hadn't tried to rob the store. They are fully responsible.