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View Full Version : Foreign Culture now a criminal defense



Soonerfan88
12/9/2010, 12:41 AM
NEWARK, N.J. – The lawyer for an African woman charged with smuggling young girls from Togo to New Jersey said her trial was about cultural norms that failed to translate in America. Twelve American jurors saw it as a clear-cut example of human trafficking, and she was sentenced to 27 years in prison.

Both sides focused on the cultural nuances of the case; the defense arguing the woman was a benevolent mother figure who helped young girls escape a life of poverty; the prosecution accusing her of using the threat of African voodoo curses to keep the girls subjugated.

The case highlighted a legal strategy that experts say immigrants' defense lawyers are using increasingly in the U.S.: the argument that a defendant's actions reflect his cultural upbringing, rather than criminal intent.

Full article here: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101208/ap_on_re_us/us_cross_cultural_lawyers




Yes, this jury didn't buy it and convicted but, IMO, it is only a matter of time before we start seeing this defense actually working with the bleeding hearts. Many may disagree with SQ 755 and the paranoia of Sharia Law in the US, but cases like this are what will continue to drive that attitude.

soonerinkaty
12/9/2010, 01:18 AM
Son of a bitch

mgsooner
12/9/2010, 01:20 AM
FIRE BRENT

Thaumaturge
12/9/2010, 01:20 AM
This is only tangentially related: Are voodoo curses illegal?

They ought to be.

AlboSooner
12/9/2010, 01:23 AM
WWaLxFIVX1s

mgsooner
12/9/2010, 01:25 AM
3NMGsRmZTFQ

Leroy Lizard
12/9/2010, 02:19 AM
NEWARK, N.J. – The lawyer for an African woman charged with smuggling young girls from Togo to New Jersey said her trial was about cultural norms that failed to translate in America. Twelve American jurors saw it as a clear-cut example of human trafficking, and she was sentenced to 27 years in prison.

Both sides focused on the cultural nuances of the case; the defense arguing the woman was a benevolent mother figure who helped young girls escape a life of poverty; the prosecution accusing her of using the threat of African voodoo curses to keep the girls subjugated.

The case highlighted a legal strategy that experts say immigrants' defense lawyers are using increasingly in the U.S.: the argument that a defendant's actions reflect his cultural upbringing, rather than criminal intent.

Full article here: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101208/ap_on_re_us/us_cross_cultural_lawyers




Yes, this jury didn't buy it and convicted but, IMO, it is only a matter of time before we start seeing this defense actually working with the bleeding hearts. Many may disagree with SQ 755 and the paranoia of Sharia Law in the US, but cases like this are what will continue to drive that attitude.

I see it at the university as well when reviewing cases of cheaters from the Middle East. Culturally, cheating to them is a game of "gotcha!" Not here. But who knows how effective this defense will be in 10 years. It's like we're giving up our own sovereignty little by little.

GKeeper316
12/9/2010, 02:55 AM
cultural differences have been used as a legal defense for as long as we've been a country.

yermom
12/9/2010, 03:02 AM
what is it about New Jersey?

Blue
12/9/2010, 03:15 AM
cultural differences have been used as a legal defense for as long as we've been a country.

Yes but "I pissed in the public square bc ....hey I'm Irish and I drink a little" is a little different than, "Hey, I beheaded my daughter bc she was so stupid she got raped, but I'm Muslim. Yay." ;)

Midtowner
12/9/2010, 07:11 AM
New Jersey doesn't recognize the cultural defense. I don't know anywhere that does.

OnlyOneOklahoma
12/9/2010, 08:42 AM
Yes but "I pissed in the public square bc ....hey I'm Irish and I drink a little" is a little different than, "Hey, I beheaded my daughter bc she was so stupid she got raped, but I'm Muslim. Yay." ;)

please post a link where this defense was used in America. I am genuinely curious what the court system did.

I would hate to think that you are baselessly fear-mongering and speaking in hyperbole.

TUSooner
12/9/2010, 08:50 AM
A lawyer came up with a novel defense? Go figure!!

What's next? Some famous former Heisman Trophy winner slashes his wife's throat and gets away with it because his slick lawyers play race games? No way.

By the way - that defense theory is not new and it's not successful, so the thread title about "now a criminal defense" is as misleading as it was intended it to be.

SanJoaquinSooner
12/9/2010, 09:18 AM
cultural differences have been used as a legal defense for as long as we've been a country.

Yes.

Clarence Darrow was a master at constructing defenses (often in murder cases) based on psychological and environmental influences. ... Including poverty as a defense.

Defense Attorneys have a job to do. They'll do whatever the judge and law will allow to get an acquittal.

It's kinda like the journalist who wrote the article. She had to write something.

Harry Beanbag
12/9/2010, 09:35 AM
please post a link where this defense was used in America. I am genuinely curious what the court system did.

I would hate to think that you are baselessly fear-mongering and speaking in hyperbole.


Have you been living in a cave?

http://www.chroniclewatch.com/2010/11/19/islamic-honor-killings-in-america/

The
12/9/2010, 09:45 AM
http://i.imgur.com/Vo6ML.jpg

OnlyOneOklahoma
12/9/2010, 09:57 AM
Have you been living in a cave?

http://www.chroniclewatch.com/2010/11/19/islamic-honor-killings-in-america/

i am at work. Did any of those people who committed those heinous acts get away with it, based on an argument that their religion says they can? I am only concerned with the American cases.

The
12/9/2010, 10:04 AM
i am at work. Did any of those people who committed those heinous acts get away with it, based on an argument that their religion says they can? I am only concerned with the American cases.

You should be working, and not leeching off your employer wasting time on the Internet Chat boards.

mgsooner
12/9/2010, 10:07 AM
http://files.myopera.com/edwardpiercy/blog/LM-Pie-1.jpg

DIB
12/9/2010, 10:08 AM
You should be working, and not leeching off your employer wasting time on the Internet Chat boards.

Its either that or youporn on the iPhone.

Jammin'
12/9/2010, 10:17 AM
please post a link where this defense was used in America. I am genuinely curious what the court system did.

I would hate to think that you are baselessly fear-mongering and speaking in hyperbole.

Especially in a sacred place such as this.


Sh it.

OUMallen
12/9/2010, 10:32 AM
Yes, this jury didn't buy it and convicted but, IMO, it is only a matter of time before we start seeing this defense actually working with the bleeding hearts. Many may disagree with SQ 755 and the paranoia of Sharia Law in the US, but cases like this are what will continue to drive that attitude.


Don't be so scared all the time.

TUSooner
12/9/2010, 11:07 AM
Don't be so scared all the time.

IN A NUTSHELL.

Well said!

NormanPride
12/9/2010, 11:39 AM
It's not my fault I beat women and drink excessively! I grew up in Ireland!



Apologies to those of Irish blood. This is merely a stupid joke pointing out the fallacy in the argument. :O

Caboose
12/9/2010, 11:42 AM
Don't be so scared all the time.

You are right. There should be no laws. People should just stop being scared.

DIB
12/9/2010, 12:15 PM
It's not my fault I beat women and drink excessively! I grew up in Ireland!



Apologies to those of Irish blood. This is merely a stupid joke pointing out the fallacy in the argument. :O

Hey! I don't beat women!

The
12/9/2010, 12:21 PM
Hey! I don't beat women!

Why not? It's fun.

DIB
12/9/2010, 12:23 PM
Why not? It's fun.

I'm afraid they'll hit me back

AlboSooner
12/9/2010, 12:24 PM
http://www.motifake.com/image/demotivational-poster/0811/get-me-a-sandwich-funny-demotivational-poster-1227712434.jpg

The
12/9/2010, 12:24 PM
I'm afraid they'll hit me back

That's hot.

OUMallen
12/14/2010, 10:33 AM
You are right. There should be no laws. People should just stop being scared.

So someone asserting a defense that ultimately failed is now the same thing as a law?

Get some perspective.

Aldebaran
12/14/2010, 10:51 AM
This won't happen if we just eliminate people with different cultures and perspectives.

The
12/14/2010, 10:52 AM
This won't happen if we just eliminate people with different cultures and perspectives.

This.
I say we start with Tulsa.

DIB
12/14/2010, 10:52 AM
Also, the Nullos would never fall victim to such legal shenanigans.

DIB
12/14/2010, 10:53 AM
This.
I say we start with Tulsa.

http://a671.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images01/113/l_9271434d556557cbea4e87bb44be55ce.jpg

Aldebaran
12/14/2010, 10:54 AM
I agree DIB, They would be like "Cultural Norms?" and they'd lift up their robes and say "See what you people did to me? It's totally flat!" But they would do it in a way that seemed completely not crazy or biased.

The
12/14/2010, 10:54 AM
http://img403.imageshack.us/img403/6017/tumblrlbsnx36kf31qe0ecl.gif

DIB
12/14/2010, 10:56 AM
BTW, I would avoid GISing "nullo" with safe search turned off.

The
12/14/2010, 10:57 AM
BTW, I would avoid GISing "nullo" with safe search turned off.
GO COUGARS!

DIB
12/14/2010, 10:57 AM
GO COUGARS!

Yep. Still there

The
12/14/2010, 10:58 AM
Yep. Still there

That dude's got staying power.

sooneron
12/14/2010, 11:04 AM
This.
I say we start with Tulsa.

Too Late! Tulsa is fresh out of culture...

The
12/14/2010, 11:05 AM
Too Late! Tulsa is fresh out of culture...

Au contraire.

Gang Culture is in high swing.