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Honestly: Why are you surprised? This trope that rich people are immune from prison is prevalent on Reddit and other social media every time someone wealthy is

Honestly: Why are you surprised? This trope that rich people are immune from prison is prevalent on Reddit and other social media every time someone wealthy is arrested for crimes. However I can think of far more examples of someone going to jail/prison than escaping charges. It’s a rare and noteworthy occurrence when someone is caught doing a crime and then gets away with it in a high profile case, but cynical social media commenters act like it’s every single case. The same thing happened with SBF: The Reddit/HN near-consensus was that he was too rich to ever face consequences, but then the system chugged along and is working just fine.

postpawl 4y ago
White collar crime is down ~26% in the last 5 years: https://trac.syr.edu/tracreports/bulletins/white_collar_crime/monthlyjan23/fil/ https://trac.syr.edu/tracreports/bulletins/white_collar_crim... Do you think it’s because it’s more of a hassle to go after people who can afford lawyers or because white collar crime is actually down? I think it’s the former.
- Teever 4y ago
  Is white collar crime down or are prosecutions of white collar crime down? How can you tell the difference? I find it hard to believe that in the age of NFTs and dogecoin and whatever crypto bullshit that white collar crimes are down.
- PragmaticPulp 4y ago
  The question was about people who are caught committing crimes like Holmes and SBF. I was asking why the parent commenter believes that they would be caught, charged, but then never face consequences. How often are we seeing blatant public crimes by wealthy people (like Holmes, SBF, Epstein, etc) get shrugged off the by system? The parent comment implies that rich people can do crimes in public, get caught, then not suffer the consequences. I’m asking where this belief comes from, because it’s weirdly prevalent on HN, Twitter, Reddit, and other social medias despite not reflecting the realities.
  - deleted 4y ago
    [deleted]
  - chucksta 4y ago
    2008 housing crisis, OxyContin lawsuits, Wells Fargos infractions, Epstein, tax enforcement poor vs wealthy, Ohio derailment
deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
atkailash 4y ago
[dead]
esperent 4y ago
> This trope that rich people are immune from prison is prevalent on Reddit and other social media every time someone wealthy is arrested for crimes It's not a trope, it's a pretty logical thing, sadly. Maybe not entirely immune but, when caught, for any crime, rich people can afford expensive lawyers who'll be able to search for any technicality, loophole, problems with the arrest and so on. That's not even considering corruption like getting a friendly judge because your father/uncle or whatever went to college with the right people. Imagine the exact same crime, let's say selling cocaine. One person grew up in the ghetto and has to use the free public prosecutor. The other is the son of a millionaire. Which one do think will do more prison time?
- PragmaticPulp 4y ago
  > Which one do think will do more prison time? The claim was that Holmes wouldn’t do any prison time. I’m specifically asking why so many people are convinced that wealthy people suffer no consequences for their crimes, not why they think expensive lawyers can do a better job.
throwawaylinux 4y ago
Of course rich people are going to be made to pay for it if they conned members of the ruling class. Nobody who think rich people tend to escape justice have ever thought otherwise. This https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trial_and_sentencing_of_Robert_H._Richards_IV https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trial_and_sentencing_of_Robert... is what happens when they don't step on the wrong toes.
rcme 4y ago
The belief isn't just that the rich won't go to jail for crimes. Rather, the belief is that the entire system is designed to give the rich incredible leeway not offered to the poor. A basic example would be wage theft, which, despite totaling billions of dollars in theft a year, is only considered a "disorderly person offense." In New Jersey, for instance, theft over $200 is a felony, but this doesn't apply to wage theft, for some reason. Also, we have a sitting Supreme Court justice who has accepted millions of dollars in "gifts." It doesn't look like anything is going to happen to him. And this type of egregious transgression is just what we know about. It should be clear that Clarence Thomas' behavior is not some crazy outlier. Many politicians seem closer to billionaires than to general members of the public.
Overtonwindow 4y ago
Past examples for me. College bribery scandal, Jusse Smollet, are two notable examples recently. The wealthy have the best lawyers who have connections to the judges, clerks, and everyone else in those courts. Indeed it is the wealthy that are able to afford to fight the government on even footing. Serious question: If it was on the other shoe, would most people have remained on bail all this time to have two children after what Elizabeth Holmes did?

postpawl 4y ago

White collar crime is down ~26% in the last 5 years: https://trac.syr.edu/tracreports/bulletins/white_collar_crime/monthlyjan23/fil/ https://trac.syr.edu/tracreports/bulletins/white_collar_crim... Do you think it’s because it’s more of a hassle to go after people who can afford lawyers or because white collar crime is actually down? I think it’s the former.

Teever 4y ago
Is white collar crime down or are prosecutions of white collar crime down? How can you tell the difference? I find it hard to believe that in the age of NFTs and dogecoin and whatever crypto bullshit that white collar crimes are down.
PragmaticPulp 4y ago
The question was about people who are caught committing crimes like Holmes and SBF. I was asking why the parent commenter believes that they would be caught, charged, but then never face consequences. How often are we seeing blatant public crimes by wealthy people (like Holmes, SBF, Epstein, etc) get shrugged off the by system? The parent comment implies that rich people can do crimes in public, get caught, then not suffer the consequences. I’m asking where this belief comes from, because it’s weirdly prevalent on HN, Twitter, Reddit, and other social medias despite not reflecting the realities.
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
- chucksta 4y ago
  2008 housing crisis, OxyContin lawsuits, Wells Fargos infractions, Epstein, tax enforcement poor vs wealthy, Ohio derailment

deleted 4y ago

[deleted]

atkailash 4y ago

[dead]

esperent 4y ago

> This trope that rich people are immune from prison is prevalent on Reddit and other social media every time someone wealthy is arrested for crimes It's not a trope, it's a pretty logical thing, sadly. Maybe not entirely immune but, when caught, for any crime, rich people can afford expensive lawyers who'll be able to search for any technicality, loophole, problems with the arrest and so on. That's not even considering corruption like getting a friendly judge because your father/uncle or whatever went to college with the right people. Imagine the exact same crime, let's say selling cocaine. One person grew up in the ghetto and has to use the free public prosecutor. The other is the son of a millionaire. Which one do think will do more prison time?

PragmaticPulp 4y ago
> Which one do think will do more prison time? The claim was that Holmes wouldn’t do any prison time. I’m specifically asking why so many people are convinced that wealthy people suffer no consequences for their crimes, not why they think expensive lawyers can do a better job.

throwawaylinux 4y ago

Of course rich people are going to be made to pay for it if they conned members of the ruling class. Nobody who think rich people tend to escape justice have ever thought otherwise. This https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trial_and_sentencing_of_Robert_H._Richards_IV https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trial_and_sentencing_of_Robert... is what happens when they don't step on the wrong toes.

rcme 4y ago

The belief isn't just that the rich won't go to jail for crimes. Rather, the belief is that the entire system is designed to give the rich incredible leeway not offered to the poor. A basic example would be wage theft, which, despite totaling billions of dollars in theft a year, is only considered a "disorderly person offense." In New Jersey, for instance, theft over $200 is a felony, but this doesn't apply to wage theft, for some reason. Also, we have a sitting Supreme Court justice who has accepted millions of dollars in "gifts." It doesn't look like anything is going to happen to him. And this type of egregious transgression is just what we know about. It should be clear that Clarence Thomas' behavior is not some crazy outlier. Many politicians seem closer to billionaires than to general members of the public.

Overtonwindow 4y ago

Past examples for me. College bribery scandal, Jusse Smollet, are two notable examples recently. The wealthy have the best lawyers who have connections to the judges, clerks, and everyone else in those courts. Indeed it is the wealthy that are able to afford to fight the government on even footing. Serious question: If it was on the other shoe, would most people have remained on bail all this time to have two children after what Elizabeth Holmes did?