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0 pointspessimizer4y ago0 comments

Somehow they don't have to figure that out with felony murder. Everyone who participates who is aware is liable to the same punishment, then. Why not in crimes of bureaucracy? Why make sure people who are just following orders are free from punishment?

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4 comments · 2 top-level

colechristensen4y ago· 2 in thread

Because killing someone is usually pretty explicit in the obviousness of a crime being committed.

Filling out forms, designing product features, and implementing them can have each individual contributor mostly ignorant that anything could possibly be wrong with the request and the few people who do have some idea only have a small one which is plausibly deniable. The person who does get caught in those circumstances is usually just a scapegoat anyway.

pessimizerOP4y ago

That's why you investigate. But awareness should be enough. And if we start to have trouble proving awareness (maybe employees aren't aware of a settlement), just require in settlements that employees are informed.

For felony murder, you don't have to know that the person you're with is armed, intends to kill, or if you're driving the getaway car you don't even have to know that they have killed anyone at all. You're participating in something that you're expected to know is wrong, and you're punished for anything that results from the entire event. If this were like felony murder, the engineers that implemented it (assuming awareness) would be as liable for the $150 million as anyone else involved.

thaumasiotes4y ago

> Because killing someone is usually pretty explicit in the obviousness of a crime being committed.

> Filling out forms, designing product features, and implementing them can have each individual contributor mostly ignorant that anything could possibly be wrong with the request

That's got nothing to do with felony murder. Felony murder occurs when you participate in a crime with someone else and they accidentally kill someone while you can't see them.

concordDance4y ago

Because felony murder is an outrageous US-specific injustice. The fact that you're guilty of murder in the US if you rob a store and the store owner shoots your friend defies common sense!

Because I know it matters to some people: this rule is used mostly against young black men.

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