AMERICAN SENTENCES



American law and order
Written by R. A. Stewart
The US has tough sentences for those who have gone off the rails, life sentences without the possibility of
parole are being handed out regularly for murder, sexual offending, and drug offending. 
There is no doubt that normal law abiding citizens find these and other offending as unacceptable but
handing down life without parole sentences should only be given to extreme cases where there is a danger
to human life for the purpose of imprisonment is to protect others from the likelihood of further offending.
The variable sentences handed down is an issue though with some people being found guilty of murder
being given life without parole while others being sentenced to just ten years imprisonment. 
Then there are cases where the definition of murder has been changed for whatever reason.
Take the case of Jennifer Mee; a lady from Florida who is serving a sentence of life without parole for the
murder of a young man. 
As a 19 year old Jennifer agreed to go on a date with him after being contacted by him through Facebook
but she had robbery rather than romance on her mind.
Her two male friends tried to rob her date and in the process of the mugging, he was fatally shot.
Under Florida law, all those involved in a fatal robbery are equally guilty of murder whether they were
directly or indirectly involved in the tragedy.
There are two aspects of Jennifer's case that do not seem right.
The first one is that of being charged with first degree murder, the most serious of all murder charges.
So how does this compare with other first degree murder charges?
I think there is no secret that there are some very horrendous cases of murder in the USA,
such as mass shootings, serial killings, and so forth.
Jennifer has received the same sentence as these offenders.
For a death that was unintentional.
My school teacher told me the difference between murder and manslaughter is "Murder is when you
intended to kill someone but manslaughter is when you kill someone accidentally."
The other aspect of Jennifer's case is a sentence of life without parole; how does this compare with other
sentences?
In Texas a police officer accidentally shot someone and received ten years imprisonment for first degree
murder.
Also in Texas, a teenager who arranged for the murder of her family is eligible for parole after serving 30 years.
One just needs to read the news papers or watch the news on television to know there are variable sentences
being handed out for murder.
Some people will say, "This is Florida law," to which I will respond;
"At one time slavery and racial segregation was considered normal in America and the people believed
these things to be right, but, there were people who said, "THIS IS WRONG," and fought hard struggles
to change the law," therefore, don't try to push the, "Its Florida law," in my face.
It is no secret that governments around the world make bad laws and it is up to its citizens to force change,
as long as it is non violent and does not interfere with the rights of others.
As far as Jennifer's situation goes, I have written to the Florida governor and Ivanka Trump who has some
connection with the judiciary but neither responded. I first became aware of Jennifer's situation after
watching the TV program ""Killer Women," in late 2018; this program was presented by British presenter
Piers Morgan. 
I have written some articles about Jennifer on a blog www.freejennifer.blogspot.com where you will be able to sign a petition to free Jennifer.
You can sign the petition by clicking on the link below;

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