A woman who killed an 87-year-old Broadway vocal coach by pushing her to the ground in New York City pleaded guilty Wednesday and will be sentenced to eight years in prison, the district attorney said.
Lauren Pazienza, now 28, shoved Barbara Maier Gustern to the ground from behind in the Chelsea neighborhood on March 10, 2022, officials said at the time.
I always found the thought alone scary. Imagine losing one year of your life locked up. Everything around you would just ‘move past’ while you’re caged in. Now imagine eight years of your past life and how much happened in that time and what you would have missed.
I don’t think any country should have lifelong (timely unlimited) sentences, they’re incredibly cruel, maybe worse than death.
We actually did have a ruling like that in Germany, so our highest available punishment, “lifelong” prison sentences aren’t what the name implies. They are long, always more than 15 years and usually above 20, but eventually you get out.
There is another measure available to keep people locked up indefinitely, “Sicherheitsverwahrung”, which keeps getting extended if they are considered to remain a large threat to society. But it’s not supposed to be a punishment, so they get more commodities at least.