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maximum sentence of 15 years:
Link
Sadly if caught they rarely get that. i hope they are caught though it does make you sick.
Kevin
Charged with just armed robbery??? How about bodily ASSAULT? If it was any other body part, it would be assault. Attacking someones hair with scissors or other sharp objects, in an effort to shear it, should be considered ASSAULT, plain and simple!
Carol
I'm not a lawyer nor do I play one on TV but maybe that is the
only applicable law in that country? Maybe the bar for
proving assault is too high to be reached in this case?
Remember this ia a foreign country, laws apppkicable in the US
of A end at the US border.
Maybe bodily assault requires the drawing of blood?
Armed robbery generally carries a higher penalty than assault.
Bill
I meant the assault charge to be in addition to the armed robbery. I don't think armed robbery is enough. But most likely nothing will happen, or the perps will get a slap on the hand. And that is even if they manage to find and arrest these scumbags. I feel sad for the victim, while it was only her hair that was harmed, being threatened with scissors and a knife must have been terrifying.
Carol
Robbery is, however, much easier to prove, because "the taking of property from the possession of a person" is an often-litigated matter.
"Great bodily harm", "mayhem", "battery", or "aggravated assault" (what it is called varies) requires a maiming or crippling injury to be a felony. Courts may differ, with hair, on how much must be taken off to be a "maiming". Pulling out one strand of hair certainly would not be, nor would dipping 1/4 inch of a ponytail into an inkwell. What if someone buzzed off a guy who had 1/4 inch of hair, and it would grow back in two weeks? That is akin to a black eye on how long the effects would last. Cutting off three years of growth is as long-lasting as going through reconstructive plastic surgery.
Because "some hair can be harmed and it not be a felony", some courts may have trouble drawing the line and lean, in the absence of previous cases (and hair cases are sparse) toward just saying that it was not enough to be a felony. With robbery, on the other hand, the offense is the taking of property BY FORCE, and if a weapon is used it is ARMED ROBBERY. There is no limit on the amount; if you steal a penny from someone using a knife, it is armed robbery.
So they can easily prove the armed robbery. Then at the sentencing phase, the judge can look at the effect on the victim that the crime had, and set the penalty accordingly.
That tack makes perfect legal sense to me, since the armed robbery offense is there to hang the prosecution on.
Bill
I thought armed robbery carries a higher maximum?
nm
It would be good to sentence, military barbers, sport coaches, shop owners and other bodies that think they can force hair cuts on us for one reason or another to the same. This is supposed to be a civilised tolerant society.
Bear in mind this isn't a free country we're talking about.
It is Brazil, not bound by US law, US customs,
US attitudes.
My understanding it isn't assault since assault is too
broad a category in Brazil law.
BTW, I'm not a lawyer nor do I play one on TV.
It's not the barbers fault :P
Bastards! Damn these sort of articles make me angry! And since this was in Brazil, rest assured these people will NEVER get caught. Guys don't get caught on the street in Brazil for much more serious crimes. And even if by chance they were caught, 15 years is the MINIMUM they should get.
Thanks, Nick, for linking this. Jeez! Sao Paolo's really hit the skids, huh? I mean, when a woman returning home from Sunday services gets assaulted like this. You raise some good, salient points in a follow-up. I dunno. G.B.H.? That's "grievous bodily harm". She sure WAS harmed! They robbed of of most of her hair!
Ever-vigilant,
Quenyan
I don't mean to upset people, but I am glad I live here in Florida.
If some jerks tried to do that to me, they would be given .45 good reasons why that action would be a bad idea. And, it would be self-defense; they wouldn't just be after my hair, but if they'd threatened to kill me, I simply would not trust them not to commit the deed even if I cooperated. - Reinhart
Reinhart,
Or as someone famous once said, "An armed society is a polite society!"
~ Quenyan