Intent without premeditation. Heat of the moment: 2nd degree Murder
Doing something you weren’t supposed to and killing someone: involuntary homicide
Failing to do something you were supposed to and killing someone: negligent manslaughter.
Who made this meme (and topic) and why is everyone so ignorant of the law? This almost certainly is vehicular manslaughter case or… If it can be suggested that it’s the pedestrian maybe was partially at fault it might be negligent manslaughter (ex: failed to stop when someone jumped out).
In the US, deaths deaths cars are treated less harshly than deaths involving firearms. One common example used to teach about jury biases is deaths due to drunk driving. Many jury members can empathize with driving drunk because many Americans have driven after drinking, even if they were under the legal limit
IDK if you should be calling other people ignorant if you didn’t even know that much
“less harshly” is not what the meme is OP responding to is saying. The meme is saying “vehicular manslaughter goes unpunished and you won’t even be arrested” which isn’t true at all.
I point out that in the USA, a dude can literally shoot an unarmed teenager with skittles in their pocket (likely 2nd degree murder or worse) and a Jury of his Peers will acquit him.
You can kill someone with a gun and have it be called an accident. You can also intentionally run someone down with your vehicle and have it be called vehicular homicide.
We can say “fuck cars” without false equivalencies.
To me whether this comic is being fair hinges on stuff like, how many people are being intentionally murdered with cars but the killer gets off easy because of the method? How many accidental gun deaths are prosecuted more harshly than they should be? I don’t actually know the answer to these. It does seem relevant that guns are a tool designed for killing.
When dangerous design is inherent to the system and deaths are treated as the cost of doing business on the roadways, when does it go from accidental into societial negligence?
Guns may be a tool designed for killing, but cars are certainly able to kill as well and should be treated as such. Pointing a gun at someone is dangerous. Pointing a moving car at someone is dangerous. We are gentler on car accidents because almost everyone relies on them and they are so normalized.
Pointing a gun at someone is dangerous. Pointing a moving car at someone is dangerous. We are gentler on car accidents because almost everyone relies on them and they are so normalized.
Is that a wrong approach though? I don’t have to point a gun at anyone to visit family, but practically I do have to get behind the wheel of a car. That can be fixed by being rich, but not everyone can be rich. The reason people drive despite the inherent risk to themselves and others is more about infrastructure than poor personal choices. I think it might be better to focus on solving the infrastructure problem than being more willing to put people in prison for driving mistakes, because the latter isn’t going to deter people from driving when most of us basically have to in order to live a normal life.
Like you said, it’s societal negligence. With guns, owning one is truly optional for almost everyone, and I think it’s reasonable to impose a much higher standard of personal responsibility on their use than with basically anything else. If you have a gun you better be capable of always using it correctly under pressure or else you should not have chosen to have one and criminal liability makes perfect sense.
Wtf?
Who made this meme (and topic) and why is everyone so ignorant of the law? This almost certainly is vehicular manslaughter case or… If it can be suggested that it’s the pedestrian maybe was partially at fault it might be negligent manslaughter (ex: failed to stop when someone jumped out).
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/328812169_If_You_Want_to_Get_Away_with_Murder_Use_Your_Car_A_Discursive_Content_Analysis_of_Pedestrian_Traffic_Fatalities_in_News_Headlines
In the US, deaths deaths cars are treated less harshly than deaths involving firearms. One common example used to teach about jury biases is deaths due to drunk driving. Many jury members can empathize with driving drunk because many Americans have driven after drinking, even if they were under the legal limit
IDK if you should be calling other people ignorant if you didn’t even know that much
“less harshly” is not what the meme is OP responding to is saying. The meme is saying “vehicular manslaughter goes unpunished and you won’t even be arrested” which isn’t true at all.
What the fuck in the George Zimmerman are you talking about? Did you fall asleep through the entirety of Black Lives Matters?
I point out that in the USA, a dude can literally shoot an unarmed teenager with skittles in their pocket (likely 2nd degree murder or worse) and a Jury of his Peers will acquit him.
You can kill someone with a gun and have it be called an accident. You can also intentionally run someone down with your vehicle and have it be called vehicular homicide.
We can say “fuck cars” without false equivalencies.
To me whether this comic is being fair hinges on stuff like, how many people are being intentionally murdered with cars but the killer gets off easy because of the method? How many accidental gun deaths are prosecuted more harshly than they should be? I don’t actually know the answer to these. It does seem relevant that guns are a tool designed for killing.
When dangerous design is inherent to the system and deaths are treated as the cost of doing business on the roadways, when does it go from accidental into societial negligence?
Guns may be a tool designed for killing, but cars are certainly able to kill as well and should be treated as such. Pointing a gun at someone is dangerous. Pointing a moving car at someone is dangerous. We are gentler on car accidents because almost everyone relies on them and they are so normalized.
Is that a wrong approach though? I don’t have to point a gun at anyone to visit family, but practically I do have to get behind the wheel of a car. That can be fixed by being rich, but not everyone can be rich. The reason people drive despite the inherent risk to themselves and others is more about infrastructure than poor personal choices. I think it might be better to focus on solving the infrastructure problem than being more willing to put people in prison for driving mistakes, because the latter isn’t going to deter people from driving when most of us basically have to in order to live a normal life.
Like you said, it’s societal negligence. With guns, owning one is truly optional for almost everyone, and I think it’s reasonable to impose a much higher standard of personal responsibility on their use than with basically anything else. If you have a gun you better be capable of always using it correctly under pressure or else you should not have chosen to have one and criminal liability makes perfect sense.
It could even be murder, if you can prove the driver had intent/premeditation.
But to answer your questions RE: meme/law, look which comm this is in lol. Can’t let logic get in the way of “car bad.”