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Man Released From Prison After 44 Years Reacts to Today's Technology

posted by janrinok on Friday November 27 2015, @07:32AM   Printer-friendly
from the was-there-no-tv? dept.

ticho writes:

In August 2014, Otis Johnson was released from prison after serving a 44-year sentence for the attempted murder of a police officer. He went to jail when he was 25 years old. By the time he came out, he was 69.

He's confused. Being completely removed from society since 1975, Johnson thinks he's entered a dystopia where everyone has become a secret agent wearing wires. The Steve Jobs era has completely passed him by.

Al Jazeera has an interesting video interview with the guy, talking about how modern world is full of surprises for him.

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  • (Score: 5, Informative) by DNied on Friday November 27 2015, @10:48AM

    by DNied (3409) on Friday November 27 2015, @10:48AM (#268612)

    Why should attempted murder be punished any differently to murder?

    Err... because no-one got actually killed?

    The *intent* is still there

    That's laughably simplistic, given the existence of the subconscious, and how it can sabotage our plans.

    It's stuff that must be judged on a case-by-case basis.

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  • (Score: 3, Informative) by CirclesInSand on Saturday November 28 2015, @04:01AM

    by CirclesInSand (2899) on Saturday November 28 2015, @04:01AM (#268972)

    It isn't laughably simplistic, it's practically simplistic. Intent, or "Mens Rea" is all that should be judged in a crime.

    The reason it isn't is because authoritarians want to outlaw so many things that don't actually harm anyone. Possession, morality, beliefs, etc. I wish anyone as naive as calling "mens rea" laughable would never be on a jury.

    No one is saying that things aren't judged on a case by case basis. But what is judged shouldn't be the outcome, but what the intended outcome was.