An Unjust Law
In the United States there is a law on the books called the felony murder rule. This law states that any murder that takes place during a felony can be considered first degree murder even though there is no premeditation on the killer’s part. So for example if you decide to rob a bank and some one is killed during the robbery then you could be convicted of first degree murder even though you had no intention of killing anyone just robbing the bank. In this regard the law makes sense, because any reasonable person would know that robbing a bank could lead to violence and possibly someone getting killed, and that person should get a first degree murder conviction.
But as so often happens in this county prosecutors take a law and stretch it to cover crimes that were probably not intended to be covered by the law. Like people who don’t actually commit the murders themselves. Especially people who had no intention of committing a felony or a murder in the first place.
Let’s go back to the bank robbing example. If you intentionally go into a bank with another person to rob that bank and the other person kills someone, then it makes sense that you should be responsible for that person’s murder. But what if you go into a bank with another person and you have no idea that person has intentions of committing a crime. Maybe you panic when this person starts to rob the bank and you don’t run away or you do what the person tells you to do because you’re scared, and then someone gets hurt. Where was the intent on your part? There was no intent to commit any crime. So why should this person have to spend the rest of there lives in prison for the actions of another person.
