Why do you get more time in jail for selling drugs then you would if you killed someone?

citation, please for any laws governing incarceration time that show drug dealing with larger times than murder.

Well one view might be that dying of meth addiction is worse than suddenly being killed, and/or that a drug dealer may be at cause in ruining many people’s lives.

I can see thinking that way, but it’s not my personal opinion. Personally, I do see there is some harm in selling drugs on the black market, because it’s dangerous and irresponsible and the dealers are enabling and encouraging self-abuse, addiction, etc. But I’d say that’s far less heinous than murdering people, yes, and that the problem and solution can be found in education and legalization rather than “the war on drugs”, which I think is responsible for much of the continued drama and danger in drug abuse.

Are we talking about weed or other drugs? Cocaine, meth, ectasy, pills, and heroin kill alot of over users and sometimes people that just want to get high. Dealers kill alot of people, they just never get to see or know their victims. But on the other hand, looking into someones face while your killing them or just beating them to death is pretty damn bad in my book.

If I kill you with a spoon and needle slowly or with a knife quickly, the result is the same but the former is perhaps even more heinous when one considers the horrific crimes that are commited throughout the drug pipeline. The crime of passion usually effects less people than the drug trade. But really there is no victimless crime regardless.
@Thizdude
Maybe we should have subsidies for hitmen since the economy is rough. ~_~

In a way you could blame a dealer for killing someone but it is the person doing the drugs who knows the effects of them and knows that they are putting themselves at risks. when someone murders someone the other person is possibly not aware of what is going to happen and mose of them are not killing themselves. the people that are takeing the drugs are the ones putting themselves at risks and doing the killing themselves. not the dealer. he is just supplying the person with what they wanted. thats like me going to the store and buying a knife and i could harm myself with that knife but they still sell it to me. so thats like saying its the stores fault that i killed myself because they sold me that knife. it makes no since to blame someone who is trying to make some money on the side. if people are willing to buy those drugs and they should know the effects of them anyways. its not the dealers fault its the buyers.

I would also like a citation please.

@Thizdude
he is just supplying the person with what they wanted. thats like me going to the store and buying a knife and i could harm myself with that knife but they still sell it to me. so thats like saying its the stores fault that i killed myself because they sold me that knife.

No, it’s not the same analogy because knife manufacturers are not beheading their competion.

Because America’s laws are really fucked up.

But I don’t base this on your proofless claim regarding sentence time. I base this on the sheer incarceration rate. Why on earth do they think it makes sense to incarcerate so many drug users… boggles the mind.

Because America’s laws are really fucked up.

Hit the nail on the head.

The nail has not been hit on the head. The nail has been ignored while the hammer has been flushed down the toilet.

I go back to my original post – show me even ONE single example of a murder having less incarceration time than a drug deal. I do not believe such a thing exists, and I challenge the person who made this ridiculous claim to back it up.

Alright. How about that recent athlete that went to court for vehicular manslaughter because he was driving drunk. He got what, two years probation, house arrest, a settlement with the family? If that’s not good enough:

30 years for a drive-by killing, 15 years for murder First and second stories.
Life for Trafficking Drugs He had no criminal record.

Proof enough? Or should I keep adding all these other stories?

I agree with you that case of the guy who got double-life for being part of a drug gang is just obscene and wrong on every level.

The 15 years for murder is about a 16-year old kid. Special rules apply to minors.

The 30 years for a drive-by killing is for the driver of the car, not the guy who actually killed anyone.

Rinehart, 19, was driving the car when passenger Derek A. Vaughan fired an AK-47 at the house. Both pleaded guilty. Vaughan was earlier sentenced to 30 years.

Rinehart got 15 years, Vaughan (the one who fired the gun) got the 30.

But like I was saying, the NFL Player basically got away with manslaughter with a slap on the wrist. Though it isn’t murder, he still killed someone by his own actions.

How about a baby killer? 20 years.
Another Drug trafficker. 30 years, though he did have a weapon and was a felon. The record probably took part in this one. His brother got 20, but not much information other than just being part of the drug ring.

I’m sure you can find plenty of cases where murderers got more time, but there’s these cases where murderers got less time than actually dealing drugs. It just isn’t right how murderer’s can do so little time and be back on the streets for “good behavior”.

There are many inequities in sentencing, but it is ludicrous to say that a drug dealer/user is going to spend more time in jail than a murderer. In some, unusual cases, it has happened, but to claim that the headline making cases are a common occurance makes the whole question sound like flame bait.

I know of cases where child molesters have gotten way less time than people selling and cultivating marijuana. whats the deal with that? 2 years for the rape of a little girl but 10years for some pot? whats really good here people?

There is no good, only power in the justice system.

Research ppl!!! You definately get more time for selling drugs than you do for murder, rape, child molestation ect. We are not just making this up. I for one have witnesed first hand several cases to prove this, not to mention the many stories I’ve heard and read to also back this FACT up. Molester charges 9: 3 counts forcible asogomy, 3 counts, indecent liberties with minnor, 3 counts child molestation… Plea bargin 3 yrs 9 mos…..lady neighbor argues with boyfriend threaten to kill him if he didn’t have her money by Friday. Told his sister all his friends and family and even her own family who all were there to testify that she promised to kill him if he didn’t have her money by Friday. Friday he was found dead at her door step. She killed him then drug outside. He was the father to her 3 kids. Shot him right in front of kids. Sentenced 20 yrs. but 6 yrs later I saw this woman and everybody was wondering how she got out…..friend sell drugs to Suport his family, was caught with a lot never the less but is serving a 45 yr bid…. Just don’t make since to me

Okay for those of you saying drugs dealers are the killers your are wrong. Thats like saying guns kill people, no guns dont kill people, people kill people with guns. The dealer has nothing to do with killing the person, it was the persons own consious decision to get the drug and do it, therefore slowly killing themselves or what not. Its really sad that dealers/users get more jail time for it than someone who raped, or killed someone, it is totally wrong. I feel a dealer/user should be sentenced to a certain amount of time in rehab, because drug dealing you can fix, but murdering someone is always going to be there that person will never come back.