7 ms·

Unfortunately this kind of hit-and-run is quite common in Cambodia. Sometimes there is genuinely no way to find the perp, but a lot of the time, either the pol

Unfortunately this kind of hit-and-run is quite common in Cambodia. Sometimes there is genuinely no way to find the perp, but a lot of the time, either the police are cowed into not really investigating too hard (when the perp turns out to be the son of a highish ranking government official, or wealthy business family, for example), or there is this kind of attempt to make things go away by paying-off the victims, police and anyone else necessary. I would guess (but you never know) Huawei itself may have little involvement, other than providing the salary required to drive such an ostentatious vehicle, etc, in what is still a poor, developing (though thoroughly corrupt) nation (http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f135/gavinmac/15181532_346572865705576_4809184333924971826_n_zpsx4pyzbzf.jpg http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f135/gavinmac/15181532_346...)

ams6110 10y ago
Not saying that a hit and run would get the same treatment, but I've definitely seen underage DUIs and posession arrests "disappear" for the kids of wealthy locals right here in the USA.
- hood_syntax 10y ago
  Yeah, it's more a matter of degree than nature.
- cafard 10y ago
  There is something called "probation before judgment". Get a traffic ticket, show up in court looking sufficiently repentant, and the judge will give you a pass on points if you don't get another ticket for six months. I benefited from this in high school, and I have heard of it being used for minor criminal offenses. In any case, for anything but felonies grievous enough to get you tried as an adult, your juvenile record is supposed to be sealed when you turn 21.
ars 10y ago
> there is this kind of attempt to make things go away by paying-off the victims, police and anyone else necessary Am I wrong in feeling that there is nothing wrong in making things go away by paying the victims? (Not the police though.) Especially with accidents that are from negligence without mens rea.
- jacknews 10y ago
  I'm not a lawyer. My view is that you should be able to pay to solve civil issues (my dog pooped on your lawn, etc). But criminal issues are not open to market forces -particularly such an unequal market as Cambodia.
  - _coldfire 10y ago
    >criminal issues are not open to market forces That part irks me the most. He's driving drunk, injured 3 people. After running away paid some compensation, which in Cambodia is likely to be small change. No further action required as far as police are concerned. It's disgusting. Compensation should be part of criminal proceedings rather than void them It's a sad state of affairs. Cambodians are wonderful people, but the corruption and inequality is all pervasive.
    - maerF0x0 10y ago
      Thats why some states will scale the punitive measures to the wealth of the individual. $5000 might be terrible for you and I, but maybe that scales to $50M for a billionaire?
    - jpatokal 10y ago
      Small change by Western (or "Huawei boss") standards, but potentially a large amount of money by local standards -- this is a country where the average income per year is under $1000. But the issue is that, even if this compensation is judged fair (and there's not a whole lot of incentive for the perp to be fair...), without the criminal charge there's effectively no deterrent against this happening again. Incidentally, in Finland most fines (including speeding fines) are computed as units of income. So a millionaire is still incentivized not to speed, because they might get hit with a $100k fine: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/1759791.stm http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/1759791.stm
      - ceejay 10y ago
        I've always been intrigued by how Finland handles this. I always had the impression there were probably "clever" ways to avoid this, by for example simply reducing income and increasing equity in the company they work for, etc. How precisely does Finland avoid the loop holes, if they do?

ams6110 10y ago

Not saying that a hit and run would get the same treatment, but I've definitely seen underage DUIs and posession arrests "disappear" for the kids of wealthy locals right here in the USA.

hood_syntax 10y ago
Yeah, it's more a matter of degree than nature.
cafard 10y ago
There is something called "probation before judgment". Get a traffic ticket, show up in court looking sufficiently repentant, and the judge will give you a pass on points if you don't get another ticket for six months. I benefited from this in high school, and I have heard of it being used for minor criminal offenses. In any case, for anything but felonies grievous enough to get you tried as an adult, your juvenile record is supposed to be sealed when you turn 21.

ars 10y ago

> there is this kind of attempt to make things go away by paying-off the victims, police and anyone else necessary Am I wrong in feeling that there is nothing wrong in making things go away by paying the victims? (Not the police though.) Especially with accidents that are from negligence without mens rea.

jacknews 10y ago
I'm not a lawyer. My view is that you should be able to pay to solve civil issues (my dog pooped on your lawn, etc). But criminal issues are not open to market forces -particularly such an unequal market as Cambodia.
- _coldfire 10y ago
  >criminal issues are not open to market forces That part irks me the most. He's driving drunk, injured 3 people. After running away paid some compensation, which in Cambodia is likely to be small change. No further action required as far as police are concerned. It's disgusting. Compensation should be part of criminal proceedings rather than void them It's a sad state of affairs. Cambodians are wonderful people, but the corruption and inequality is all pervasive.
  - maerF0x0 10y ago
    Thats why some states will scale the punitive measures to the wealth of the individual. $5000 might be terrible for you and I, but maybe that scales to $50M for a billionaire?
  - jpatokal 10y ago
    Small change by Western (or "Huawei boss") standards, but potentially a large amount of money by local standards -- this is a country where the average income per year is under $1000. But the issue is that, even if this compensation is judged fair (and there's not a whole lot of incentive for the perp to be fair...), without the criminal charge there's effectively no deterrent against this happening again. Incidentally, in Finland most fines (including speeding fines) are computed as units of income. So a millionaire is still incentivized not to speed, because they might get hit with a $100k fine: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/1759791.stm http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/1759791.stm
    - ceejay 10y ago
      I've always been intrigued by how Finland handles this. I always had the impression there were probably "clever" ways to avoid this, by for example simply reducing income and increasing equity in the company they work for, etc. How precisely does Finland avoid the loop holes, if they do?