John W. wrote:
> Raj Feridun <rferid@NOSPAMyahoo.co.jp> wrote in message news:<pc7fg0tlbm1v22kh5hcnrl2oc4q8ssp6on@4ax.com>...
> 
>>Yes, unfortunately this is the tragic state of the Japanese penal
>>codes.
>>
>>I guess my point is that even if a grown man "accidentally" killed his
>>5 year old by slamming his head into the floor that there should be a
>>more severe sentence than 5 years as a result. As for murder throw
>>away the key.
>>
> 
> Isn't there something in the law that says a normal person should
> understand that their action will result in injury or death? Only an
> idiot thinks throwing a kid to the floor won't at the very least hurt
> him.

Sure. Look up "mens rea" some time. To be criminally culpable for
something, you generally have to be aware that your behaviour is
wrongful. You don't necessarily have to be aware of the exact
consequence, though. If you expected your wrongful action to be an
assault, and it resulted in death, you would still be criminally
culpable for the death. "Reckless disregard" gets tangled up in this
too. If you threw a stick of dynamite at a building, and someone died in
the ensuing explosion, it doesn't matter if you didn't mean to kill
anyone: any reasonable person would understand that throwing dynamite
into a building is a wrongful act that presents a substantial danger to
people.

The issues for this kind of thing in the US involve the particular laws
of the state you are in. As you poke around the various manslaughter and
murder statutes, you find varying degrees of having to prove different
levels of intent and recklessness. It is difficult to prove beyond a
shadow of reasonable doubt that the father didn't just have a momentary
lapse of control, was not under extreme emotional distress, and acted
with the kind of calm, deliberate behaviour that tends to receive stiff
murder penalties. These kind of cases tend to be treated as variations
of unintentional homicide and reckless manslaughter.

You also need to keep in mind that Japan is not a common law country,
and its legal system is different from the US.

KWW