Reference no: EM132280381

Discussion assignment:

This assignment is two separate parts an original discussion response must be 250 words free of grammatical errors and a comment to a classmate's discussion post with 50 words the class mate post is below:

Discussion question:

· This week's discussion board, Similar to hate crimes, do you think it is important that intent be a key factor in proving genocide, or should the definition be more broadly defined in an effort to give courts more discretion on determining if an act was genocide or not?

Remember: Your posts must be 250 words of substantial content and your response to a classmate must be at least 50 words of substantial content as well.

For the classmate comment you will have either to agree or disagree to the classmate discussion response with at least 50 words.

Maddison Fitzsimmons classmate discussion response:

I do believe that genocide should involve the factor of intent. It is typical that criminals who have had a sense of intent for the crime that they committed receive a harsher sentence than those criminals who commit a crime for no reason or just for the hell of it. I also do not believe that there should be a broad definition to allow discretion. Discretion should occur in special circumstances when there are multiple crimes or other similar situations where genocide is not the only criminal act committed. Discretion is a powerful ability to give somebody, there is an opportunity to abuse it and manipulate it into one's agenda or doing.

In the event that there was a more broad definition, I believe it would allow people who did not necessarily commit what we define as a genocidal action to then be sentenced for genocide. This could cause a different type of sentencing disparity that we have not really seen. We are aware of the disparities that occur due to race or gender, but if we made the definition of genocide more broad we might see a disparity for those who do not deserve the sentence we have given them.

It seems like a far stretch but the generalization of genocide could be a downfall. We have set guidelines for murder, first degree versus second degree versus felony murder, manslaughter, voluntary versus involuntary, so it would simply make sense if we implemented the same strict guidelines for genocide as well.