Sentencing Procedure

[dont_hate_me01]

I'm writing a fic, set in the USA, where two men have been in a relationship for a number of years, more than 5 to be exact. It's an abusive relationship and the abusive partner has pleaded guilty on the following charges

Comments

[dont_hate_me01]

That's the thing, I didn't want to put a specific place or state in this piece of fiction, since I'm not from the USA and don't know much about the law and penalties on that side. If I have to put a region to it, I would make it the Eastern Side. Would that help? :)

[squidger]

Not really. The east coast of the US is incredibly diverse. You have the northeast (Boston, NYC), the mid-Atlantic (Pennsylvania, New Jersey), A
Washington, D.C., the "South," Florida.

If your story is heavy on law, it would really be helpful to at least pick a state, even if you never mention it. Every state may have completely different criminal laws.

[dont_hate_me01]

The story is not heavey on law, I would never be able to pull that off! :-)

The mid-Atlantic, Pennsylvania sounds good. Please, tell me that will help!

[alexcat]

And even on attempted murder, there are many different things... for example, shooting AT people here in NC is a misdemeanor BUT shooting into an occupied dwelling is a felony.

Truthfully, if he's well connected and popular and the judge is very wishy washy, he could walk for all of them in a plea or even get community service on lesser charges. It has happened.

If the court allowed it as domestic violence - it would be hard to prove unless there have been complaints made earlier in the relationship. Many battered women have been convicted of murder when they've finally killed abusive partners simply because their partner was smart enough to scare them too bad for them to call the cops or file a complaint.

[dont_hate_me01]

I do have a feeling domestic violence would not work, no prior complaints were made, everyone suspected something, but no one knew. So that I'll through out, and see what my muse comes up with the remaining charges and hopefully I'll manage to get a sentence that would be appropriate.

Thank you for helping!

[dont_hate_me01]

Thank you so much for this added information. The criminal justice procedure in USA is so vastly different from what I'm used to on this side of the world. It is a very interesting topic, one that I think I can investigate for hours on end and still come up with plenty of questions.

[clarice]

As others have said, these would all be state charges so they'd vary by location. In my jurisdiction (Illinois) there is a domestic violence law and it does cover same sex and unmarried co-habitating couples (along with blood relationships, roommates, and caregiver arrangements). There's no "long term abuse" in the criminal code, as each violation must be individually charged and proven, though patterns of abuse can come in trial in some circumstances

[dont_hate_me01]

Illinois as well as Pennsylvania are the two jurisdictions that I'm now taking a closer look at. I appreciate the fact that you've told me about the domestic violence law in Illinois, it helps a lot!

Thank you as well for the penatly clauses you've added, it makes me a bit more comfortable in writing the sentence part. In the end I do want the sentence to be believable, even if it consists only out of one paragraph in the whole story.

[lunardreamed]

There's no "long term abuse" in the criminal code, as each violation must be individually charged and proven, though patterns of abuse can come in trial in some circumstances.

Good point. This is possibly evidence of a pattern of behavior that would substantiate intent by the defendent to commit a criminal act

[dont_hate_me01]

Character evidence are also not allowed in our system, except if you open that door yourself, and then it's free game. However with our plea bargaining that's between the defense and the prosecution. The judge only sees the final aggreement, but if he/she does not like it they can refuse it. That takes you then back to square one as you've got to now go on trial, you can't take the plea bargain to another court because you're not allowed to "forum shop".

Thanks for all of this information, I loved reading about it!

[anonymous]

You can find Pennsylvania's full criminal code here: http://www.legis.state.pa.us/cfdocs/legis/li/public/cons_index.cfm

Title 18 contains the criminal code. If you download it as a Word document, you should find it fairly easy to search and find specific definitions of certain crimes as well as sentencing ranges. You're probably going to want to look at the 2700 section (assault) as well as 1103 (sentencing for graded felonies).

[dont_hate_me01]

Thank you so much for this! I had a quick look at it and saved the link as a favorite, this is going to help my not only for this fic, but for future projects as well.

[miri_d]

This post is to actually give you a better idea of where to geographically set your fic/what state legal code to follow, based on your character description.

A lot of people have based their suggestions/lawyer on your character's wealth. But in the USA, most working actors are on the Really Fucking Poor side of things - especially if they're a stage actor - so unless he just so happens to be bff's with a really talented defense lawyer who is gonna defend him for free, odds are he can't afford very good legal representation. Most actors have a day job with flexible hours - if he's a working actor, emphasis is on his ability to have flexible hours. That's why a lot of actors are waiters or bartenders, though neither are positions that pay very well unless you've spent your career working your way up to a 4* restaurant. So if being a businessman is his primary job, and he's not a "working actor" but someone who does community theater (as opposed to professional/paid theater) occasionally, or for fun, that works. He can be wealthy enough

[dont_hate_me01]

Thank you very much for your input on the actor aspect of things. It did help a lot and I've got some more things to look at now. I will also have take a look at the legal codes for California and NY as you've suggested.

[miri_d]

FWIW, I'm a (non-working, lol) former actor in LA, so if you have any questions about the way "the industry" works in the States, I can try to help you out with that.

[dont_hate_me01]

Thank you for this, I'll remember it and will send you a PM if I need any more help! :-)