Which component of justice— retribution, incapacitation, deterrence, rehabilitation and reparation [1]—is served by jailing this person?
The only one I see is retribution. Given the families are pursuing damages, the reparation prerogative is better served with him out of jail (and not draining his assets fighting prison time).
[1] https://www.unodc.org/e4j/en/crime-prevention-criminal-justi...
If he was, say, watching a movie on his phone, then he should go to jail to deter others from watching movies on their phones.
Sure. Nobody was murdered.
> clearly 23k is not high enough to stop many people from repeating this crime
That’s not the penalty. It’s a criminal conviction, the fine and probation. I don’t know the terms of the probation, but I assume it means he goes to jail for traffic infractions. Also, he’s going to pay a lot more than $23k given the civil case is ongoing.
Even the language around automobiles is corrupted. Essentially all "accidents" aren't.
Owning and operating a multi-ton machine capable of travelling at high speed and rapidly accelerating is a huge responsibility. Being distracted isn't an accident, it's negligence. Not mechanically maintaining the vehicle is negligence. Not supervising your vehicle, even when you have some sort of digital aid enabled, is negligence. None of these are accidents.
Calling a system that is not fully self-driving "autopilot" while knowing exactly what the general public considers that term to mean is....something worse than negligence.
The driver was convicted of a felony.
> Calling a system that is not fully self-driving "autopilot"...is....something worse than negligence
So we agree that the driver isn't, by default, subject to a minimum penalty of jail time.
Given the rates of vehicle deaths in the US, the penalties are clearly not high enough to act as a deterrent.
The "default" for this charge absolutely involves at least a year of jail time (that is, in fact, the defining difference between a felony and a misdemeanor), and the plea deal in this case is an affront to justice.
Do you expect Giuliani to pay a cent?
Or give those who negligently kill with their cars a choice: serve the jail time for your negligent homicide, or give up your license for life. That would still have a deterrent effect while not being life-ruining (just life-inconveniencing)
Is this not default? They have clearly proved that are not fit to participate in road traffic.
It’s not binary, it’s a distribution and I do believe you can alter that distribution.
For a lot of people $23k is minimal disruption to their life.