4 ms·

Is your complaint that his sentence is too light? Or that non-white collar crime is punished too harshly?

deleted 7y ago
[deleted]
michaelt 7y ago
foolfoolz is complaining that the sentence is light compared to non-white-collar crimes For example, if you can get 12 years for shoplifting $40 [1] or life in prison for stealing $153 of video tapes [2] that stands in stark contrast to starting a company with stolen IP and selling it for $680M and getting 2.5 years. Some people see this as part of a pattern where the justice system, run by upper-middle-class types, is unduly lenient on other upper-middle-class types, or unduly harsh on poor people. They would also point to the likes of Brock Turner who had gone to the same college as the judge sentencing him; and controversial presidential pardons [3] of friends and major donors. It's not a completely hard-and-fast pattern, of course; Bernie Madoff got a 150 year sentence. [1] https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/may/17/walmart-shoplifting-helping-hike-sentences-court https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/may/17/walmart-shop... [2] https://www.americanbar.org/groups/crsj/publications/human_rights_magazine_home/human_rights_vol31_2004/winter2004/irr_hr_winter04_shoplifting/ https://www.americanbar.org/groups/crsj/publications/human_r... [3] https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/analysis-opinion/problematic-trump-pardons https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/analysis-opinion/prob...
- cjensen 7y ago
  Yes, I get that... but there is an implicit "what should be fixed" attached to the complaint. This white-collar punishment is going to hurt him badly. Is fairness best achieved by hurting him even more? Or is it best achieved by "only" hurting non-white-collar crimes with a punishment similar to this? It's important because the real question here is "are you complaining about his sentence, or the sentence of others?" Personally I'm pro-reform. Would really like to see lighter sentences for a lot of things. So I'm not going to complain about this white-collar sentence at all. I'm going to complain about the harsh sentence for "people not like us."

deleted 7y ago

[deleted]

foolfoolz is complaining that the sentence is light compared to non-white-collar crimes For example, if you can get 12 years for shoplifting $40 [1] or life in prison for stealing $153 of video tapes [2] that stands in stark contrast to starting a company with stolen IP and selling it for $680M and getting 2.5 years. Some people see this as part of a pattern where the justice system, run by upper-middle-class types, is unduly lenient on other upper-middle-class types, or unduly harsh on poor people. They would also point to the likes of Brock Turner who had gone to the same college as the judge sentencing him; and controversial presidential pardons [3] of friends and major donors. It's not a completely hard-and-fast pattern, of course; Bernie Madoff got a 150 year sentence. [1] https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/may/17/walmart-shoplifting-helping-hike-sentences-court https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/may/17/walmart-shop... [2] https://www.americanbar.org/groups/crsj/publications/human_rights_magazine_home/human_rights_vol31_2004/winter2004/irr_hr_winter04_shoplifting/ https://www.americanbar.org/groups/crsj/publications/human_r... [3] https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/analysis-opinion/problematic-trump-pardons https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/analysis-opinion/prob...

cjensen 7y ago
Yes, I get that... but there is an implicit "what should be fixed" attached to the complaint. This white-collar punishment is going to hurt him badly. Is fairness best achieved by hurting him even more? Or is it best achieved by "only" hurting non-white-collar crimes with a punishment similar to this? It's important because the real question here is "are you complaining about his sentence, or the sentence of others?" Personally I'm pro-reform. Would really like to see lighter sentences for a lot of things. So I'm not going to complain about this white-collar sentence at all. I'm going to complain about the harsh sentence for "people not like us."