Text 19959, 61 rader
Skriven 2011-06-15 08:14:58 av Robert Bashe (2:2448/44)
  Kommentar till text 19935 av Michiel van der Vlist (2:280/5555)
Ärende: Statue of limitation
============================
Michiel van der Vlist wrote to Robert Bashe on Tuesday June 14 2011 at 16:44:

RB>> [Murder on mistaken basis]
MV>>> She can not be prosecuted for murder. Statue of limitation.

RB>> Since when is there a statute of limitation for murder?

MV> Wrong question. Proper question: Since when in the NO statue of
MV> limitation on murder?  Answer: since 2006. It used to be 18 years, in
MV> 2006 it was raised to infinite for crimes with a maximum penalty of a
MV> life time sentence.

Must be a special case for the Netherlands, then. Never heard of that
elsewhere.

MV> Of course this does not apply retroactively.

MV> The reason for the limitation was that it was believed that no
MV> reliable evidence could be produced after such a long time. In the old
MV> days, evidence heavily relied on witness statements.

And nowadays, in Germany, they're convicting ex-Nazis on the basis of heresay
witness statements ("My grandmother told me that...") 60-70 years in the past.

MV> But now that there has been a huge boost in forensic technology, it is
MV> different. With new technology forensic evidence can emerge in cold
MV> cases.

True, but just think about this: the statute of limitations for debt in Germany
has been 30 years for as long as I've been here. Now, that's only debt, not a
crime like murder.

And although forensic technology has advanced remarkably over the past 10-15
years, the advances have been fairly recent - genetic analyses were, to my
knowledge, unknown even up to the 1990s.

RB>> I suspect the situation isn't as simple as you make it out to be.

MV> It is that simple. The murder took place in 1946. It expired 18 years
MV> later. Period.

Nice for the murderers, not so nice for the relatives and friends of their
victims. And I still think the situation wasn't as simple as all that - 18
years for murder would be much too short, even if you assume everyone connected
with _every_ case was elderly and would die a few years after it occurred,
leaving no written records or people to whom they told their story. Very
arbitary period, very short. This is why I find this so strange.

Could this have something to do with the brutal, confused period immediately
following WWI, when all sorts of injustices were perpetrated and/or overlooked
just to get back to normal life again?

MV> Note that without a statue of limitation, there may not have been a
MV> confession.

Is there ever, unless the evidence is overwhelming?

Cheers, Bob

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