Quote:
Originally Posted by redpoint5
Why does the luck of the outcome have anything to do with the severity of the punishment? Many people have caused dangerous situations that could have resulted in death, but the particular circumstances did not happen, so they were not charged with severe crimes.
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You know why the sentence for attempted murder is less than the sentence for murder? It's because you're not that dangerous.
If you're careful, you can stop on the road (or juggle chainsaws, smoke, shoot an apple off of your kid's head...). If you're careful, nothing will happen and passing traffic will go around you: you probably won't get caught. If one of those passing cars is a cop, he'll see your lack of flashing lights, orange cones or flares as evidence of your not being careful. Depending on how close to being careful you are, he may tell you to moce along or he may cite you- so you got caught, but let off lightly because you apparently aren't that dangerous. If you cause an accident, the cops will show up. They'll see clearly how careless and dangerous you are and won't just tell you to be on your way.
The punishment for stopping on the road is pretty low because generally people can be counted on to be somwhat careful and generally nothing bad happens. When something bad happens, other laws kick in. Because killing people isn't about
"but all I did was stop my car, what's wrong with that?"