Mastodawn

Max Kennerly Jan 12, 2023

One nice thing about American law is how you can often state what the law is in a neutral, unbiased, objective manner and it still sounds deranged and Kafkaesque.

"A U.S. government panel tasked with crafting federal sentencing policy on Thursday proposed curtailing the ability of judges to impose longer sentences on criminal defendants based on conduct for which they were acquitted at trial, a practice that the U.S. Supreme Court is considering addressing."

https://www.reuters.com/legal/us-panel-proposes-limiting-sentencing-defendants-acquitted-conduct-2023-01-12/

U.S. panel proposes limiting sentencing of defendants for acquitted conduct

A U.S. government panel tasked with crafting federal sentencing policy on Thursday proposed curtailing the ability of judges to impose longer sentences on criminal defendants based on conduct for which they were acquitted at trial, a practice that the U.S. Supreme Court is considering addressing.

Reuters

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Tazor Jan 12, 2023

@maxkennerly

I'm sorry, what? Judges in the US can sentence someone who was acquitted?? English is not my first language, so does "acquitted" not mean what I think it means?

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Torbjörn Björkman Jan 12, 2023

@Tazor @maxkennerly My understanding is that if you're found guilty of something, they can take the fact that you were accused of other stuff too to be aggravating circumstances at sentencing, even if you were acquitted of said other stuff.

Which is insane. But it seems to me that's what clever US law people whom I otherwise believe keep writing.

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Tazor

@TorbjornBjorkman @maxkennerly

"Guilty until proven innocent.. but still guilty"

The US doesn't have a justice system.. because that would require there to be justice. It just has a criminal system, where everyone is criminal, but the rich avoid punishment.