Flawed logic

[SEZ213]

Originally Posted by Jim Goose

Several Police officers i know and other people in legal profession have always said... its usually best to make sure he (the intruder) is dead.
So if you shoot... shoot twice... shoot to kill, then fire the warning shot.

I've heard this as well, and funnily enough, from very similar sources.

My future BIL is a policeman, and he's discussed 'reasonable force' with me. If they have a cricket bat, you can too...but the term 'reasonable force' has it's downside as well, as it does all depend on a person's interpretation of reasonable force...

So for example, me being five foot stuff all, and about 55kg, being fronted with a 6ft 100kg intruder...my reasonable force...is going to be to hurt them so they don't get up...so I need a baseball bat, because them even unarmed is going to kick my unarmed butt into next week given the opportunity.

I'm intrigued by the legal system, I've had the good fortune never to really have had to deal with for a very long time until recently, which is where my curiosity comes from with regard to what behaviour constitutes what kind of jail sentence and how the law is applied in terms of crimes committed. I know the drill about the 'address known to police' to ensure no retribution comes directly, but it's really not that hard to look up an address anymore and go hunting should you feel the desire when you get out of jail, particularly if you feel you were hard done by. And twelve years seems to be the magic number for those crimes...

As far as psychopaths and sociopaths goes, the other half is currently working in a psychiatric facility. They are told not to speak to the 'clients' by the nursing staff...they have little to no social skills from what I'm led to believe and they don't appear to be getting rehabilitated. They do appear to be pretty free to roam though, with no supervision at all...then again, they're the one's who have been caught, not the ones who haven't...who knows how many of them are out there...

I took (and still do take) a great interest in psychology, particularly the human mind and how it ticks...inside the facility there are those who despite being there for crimes they have committed, will develop rapport with certain staff members, and will protect those staff members if they feel that person has been hard done by (particularly by another client). These guys are clinically psychotic for the most part, but their ability to develop rapports with certain people blows my mind. That being said, do psychopaths normally hurt those they actually care about...? The research would indicate otherwise - but it's a safe bet for me, if one of those guys says hello, you say hello back

[Jim Goose]

Originally Posted by Sezzy

I've heard this as well, and funnily enough, from very similar sources.

My future BIL is a policeman, and he's discussed 'reasonable force' with me. If they have a cricket bat, you can too...but the term 'reasonable force' has it's downside as well, as it does all depend on a person's interpretation of reasonable force...

So for example, me being five foot stuff all, and about 55kg, being fronted with a 6ft 100kg intruder...my reasonable force...is going to be to hurt them so they don't get up...so I need a baseball bat, because them even unarmed is going to kick my unarmed butt into next week given the opportunity.

The other thing Police will tell you... is to use the term "In fear of my life".
In using your example where you are er... like me, short and confronted by someone bigger then you, and you beat them to a pulp with a bat, you will need to convince the jury that because of the fact you were alone and had no hope of restraining the person you beat him so bad to make sue he wouldnt get up again because you were in fear of your life!

Also helps to say the person attacking you also made threats and/or inferences that you were going to die or be seriously injured... etc.

[Stefan]

Originally Posted by Jim Goose

The other thing Police will tell you... is to use the term "In fear of my life".

You could but it is risky. Say you knock a bloke out then continue to beat him until nearly dead, I'd say it would be difficult to convince an expert that you were in fear when the intruder was obviously already immobilized and you kept the beating them.

Not disagreeing with you, as I don't know what I would do if I thought my family and especially if my kids were threatened.

Tough call, I hope I never need to make it.

[Jim Goose]

Well once he is down.. there is no need to keep throwing the boot in, so yes you need to stop (or say you stopped!).

[MO]

Perhaps part of the reason some seem to get off light is because the jails are full and in a lot of cases its the old revolving door syndrome.
The old 'in fear of life'has come up. Along with that is another that hasn't been mentioned yet...'leave no marks and have no witnesses'.

[BHDOGS]

Working in security for many years has taught me the justice system is stuffed and there needs to be tougher penalty's i had one women shop lift from the same store she was caught at an hour before and it was her 70th time she had be caught shop lifting with no consequences to speak of although im sure she had a bad life and maybe her mother never loved her enough and maybe her dad touched children and jesus came back in a dream and said shed never amount to anything and some other crap excuse far as im concerned kick her in the face and throw her in prison.