Australian man extradited to the US for copyright infringement

**HoreTore** · 05-07-2007, 17:58

6 years is a quite common sentence for murder here... Rape a couple of years lower, but of course depending on brutality. The max sentence is life(21 years) for both cases though.

But I guess we don't believe in punishment as much as certain yanks...

**Don Corleone** · 05-07-2007, 18:05

Wow. Just plain wow. I'm so glad I don't take the family overseas with me. I had no idea you folks had so little respect for life, victims or law. 6 years for killing somebody? 4 years for raping somebody? At country club prisons? Wow.

**HoreTore** · 05-07-2007, 18:08

And yet, we have crime rates that are a mere fraction of yours...interesting thing...

Btw, 3 years is probably closer to the typical sentence for rape here. Don't quote me on exact numbers though, I haven't researched this, this is just from memory...

**Don Corleone** · 05-07-2007, 18:54

Originally Posted by HoreTore

And yet, we have crime rates that are a mere fraction of yours...interesting thing...

Btw, 3 years is probably closer to the typical sentence for rape here. Don't quote me on exact numbers though, I haven't researched this, this is just from memory...

I cannot argue that as I don't have a good understanding of the sociology of crime. You're certain that it's your per capita rates that are a fraction of ours, not just the number of incidents?

**HoreTore** · 05-07-2007, 19:22

Originally Posted by Don Corleone

I cannot argue that as I don't have a good understanding of the sociology of crime. You're certain that it's your per capita rates that are a fraction of ours, not just the number of incidents?

Per capita, of course. How many are murdered each year in the US? 20k? 30k? Last year, we had 50 murders here. USA has around 240 million? In norway, we have 4,5 million, about 50 times lower than USA. Multiplying 50 by 50 gives 2500, at the very least 8 times lower than the US....

**Don Corleone** · 05-07-2007, 20:06

Well, I'll grant you, according to NationMaster Norway has a lower murder and rape rate than the USA. But there's more to it than the causal affect you seem to be implying.

Norway does have softer prison sentancing on murderers and rapists than the USA and enjoys lower rape (12/100K) and murder (1/100K) than the USA (30/100K) and (4/100K) respectively.

But Australia, the country that started this all, like Norway, has relatively soft penalties for rape and murder. Their rates are rape=78/100K and murder = 1.5/100K respectively. Similarly, Canada also has softer penalties on rape yet has more rapes per capita than the USA, at 73/100K.

So, it's not a simple matter of being tougher on crime makes it more likely to happen. Personally, I think all nations owe it to the women and children of their society (the victims of rape) to lock the monsters that did up for a spell. 3 years of golf and job training hardly seems like justice to me.

**Seamus Fermanagh** · 05-07-2007, 20:16

Originally Posted by Don Corleone

Well, I'll grant you, according to NationMaster Norway has a lower murder and rape rate than the USA. But there's more to it than the causal affect you seem to be implying.

Norway does have softer prison sentancing on murderers and rapists than the USA and enjoys lower rape (12/100K) and murder (1/100K) than the USA (30/100K) and (4/100K) respectively.

But Australia, the country that started this all, like Norway, has relatively soft penalties for rape and murder. Their rates are rape=78/100K and murder = 1.5/100K respectively. Similarly, Canada also has softer penalties on rape yet has more rapes per capita than the USA, at 73/100K.

So, it's not a simple matter of being tougher on crime makes it more likely to happen. Personally, I think all nations owe it to the women and children of their society (the victims of rape) to lock the monsters that did up for a spell. 3 years of golf and job training hardly seems like justice to me.

The real stat needed to answer your concern Don is the recidivism rates for these countries. I too find such sentences overly light. However, if the recidivism rate among previous incarcerees is significantly lower per capita in Norway than in the USA, THEN Horetore might be smack on target.

**HoreTore** · 05-08-2007, 11:34

Originally Posted by Don Corleone

So, it's not a simple matter of being tougher on crime makes it more likely to happen. Personally, I think all nations owe it to the women and children of their society (the victims of rape) to lock the monsters that did up for a spell. 3 years of golf and job training hardly seems like justice to me.

Well, I believe there are some cultural difference here. When someone is locked up for 10 years here, it is viewed as a very, very long time...

I don't know the recidivism rates here, but I do know that rapist/pedophiles who have been chemically castrated(not forced) has a rate of somewhere around 2-3%....

**Duke Malcolm** · 05-07-2007, 18:55

It is atrocious that one of Her Britannic Majesty's subjects, British or Colonial, be treated in this fashion by a Foreign Power! I demand the immediate blockade of all US ports until the chap is released!

**Seamus Fermanagh** · 05-07-2007, 20:12

Originally Posted by Duke Malcolm

It is atrocious that one of Her Britannic Majesty's subjects, British or Colonial, be treated in this fashion by a Foreign Power! I demand the immediate blockade of all US ports until the chap is released!

This particular "colonial" was extradited with the consent of Australian authorities. Blockading us might be a tad harsh as a response, old bean.

Perhaps you could send some descendent of Bannister Tarleton off to Canberra to clout some sense into the provincials.....