| ▲ | muddi900 an hour ago | ||||||||||||||||
Intention matters in the severity of charges and sentencing. Crime due to ignorance or negligence is still a crime. | |||||||||||||||||
| ▲ | TJSomething an hour ago | parent | next [-] | ||||||||||||||||
It seems to me that the law in the US is set up to only establish standards of negligence after a bunch of people die. | |||||||||||||||||
| ▲ | mikeyouse 40 minutes ago | parent | prev [-] | ||||||||||||||||
Not remotely true. Mens rea is a necessary precondition to establish criminal culpability for tons of crimes. Well before sentencing is ever considered. The far opposite, ‘strict liability’, where you’re guilty of a crime purely due to some action or inaction (the actus reus) is exceedingly rare in the US justice system. | |||||||||||||||||
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