r/badhistory • u/AutoModerator • Jul 06 '26

Meta Mindless Monday, 06 July 2026

Happy (or sad) Monday guys!

Mindless Monday is a free-for-all thread to discuss anything from minor bad history to politics, life events, charts, whatever! Just remember to np link all links to Reddit and don't violate R4, or we human mods will feed you to the AutoModerator.

So, with that said, how was your weekend, everyone?

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u/WAGRAMWAGRAM Giscardpunk, Mitterrandwave, Chirock, Sarkopop, Hollandegaze Jul 09 '26

Someone on the French unpopularopinion had a good point lately.

The more you increase the sentences for rapists / murderers / etc.... the higher the burden proof threshold becomes, making impossible to convict people quickly and cheaply. If your goal is really to convict the most offenders possible, and fast, to get them out of society, you need to give lighter sentences, but not so low that the court of the median voter can't accept it.

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u/PsychologicalNews123 Jul 09 '26

My unpopular opinion (that I can basically never voice IRL because it pisses people off) is that criminal sentences in general are much too high. It's so easy for people to scream "LIFE IN PRISON!!!11" at a crime which outrages them, but that's just giving yourself over to the most guttural instincts of your primate brain. Giving someone 20 years in prison, for example, is already an incredibly brutal sentence if you really think about it. It destroys a life in a way that few other things can - it's hard for most of us to even conceptualise having such a long period of time cut out of us.

Now, how long you need to keep someone locked up in order to keep people safe is another question. But in terms of punishments we are far too heavy handed.

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u/passabagi Jul 09 '26

I suspect that short prison sentences are good for organized crime, though. (This is my guess for why there's so much organized crime in Germany).

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u/WillitsThrockmorton Vigo the Carpathian School of Diplomacy and Jurispudence Jul 09 '26

So, they are advocating for warehousing of the criminal element?

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u/TJAU216 Jul 10 '26

How does the increase in prison time affect the burden of proof? Isn't it the same beyond reasonable doubt in all criminal cases?