5 ms·
That's also overkill. 6 months in prison for $300 of stolen good is cruel and unnecessary. The average annual cost per inmate for Colorado is nearly $40k [1], s
by minhazm 5y ago
That's also overkill. 6 months in prison for $300 of stolen good is cruel and unnecessary. The average annual cost per inmate for Colorado is nearly $40k [1], so at six months it's $20k. $300 stolen costs the state $20k, that's just absurd. At that amount you should get some sort of forced community service option before any sort of jail time is considered, or a fine at like 5x the amount paid to the person you stole it from.
[1] https://www.vera.org/publications/price-of-prisons-2015-state-spending-trends/price-of-prisons-2015-state-spending-trends/price-of-prisons-2015-state-spending-trends-prison-spending https://www.vera.org/publications/price-of-prisons-2015-stat...
- willcipriano 5y agoYou don't get six months for a first offence, in practice you get six months for the 8th time you stole $300.
- wpietri 5y agoI agree. But I think the only way we'll solve this issue is by having sentencing parity for white-collar crimes. Right now plenty of people look at that and say, "It's obvious that Those People will only learn if they're strictly punished. We can't be soft on crime!" But if we have similar sentences for things like wage theft, where many more people will identify with the perp, I think they'll be much more willing to say, "Gosh, that seems like overkill."