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When animal law meets sentencing law

By Douglas A. Berman

This local article from Florida, which is headlined "Crimes against wildlife are slightly punished: State's point system yields light sentences for most offenders," provides an interesting report on sentencing terms for animal crimes. Here is how the article starts: A juvenile Florida black bear made a mistake May 7 when it wandered into Kevin Doerr's San Carlos Park yard: Doerr killed the animal with a .44-caliber Magnum handgun. Doerr made a mistake, too: The Florida black bear is a threatened species; intentionally killing a threatened species is a third-degree felony, and the maximum penalty for a third-degree felony is five years in prison and a $5,000 fine. But Doerr won't get the maximum because, if found guilty, he won't have enough points under the state's sentencing guidelines...continue to full post

Full post as published by Sentencing Law and Policy on May 24, 2009 (boomark / email).