5 ms·

If you think this sentence was unjust, there is another Colorado prisoner named Michael Dipentino. He is currently serving a 305 year sentence. What was his hei

If you think this sentence was unjust, there is another Colorado prisoner named Michael Dipentino. He is currently serving a 305 year sentence. What was his heinous crime? According to the Denver DA [1] he created phony checks to buy $200,000 worth of postage stamps, that he later pawned or resold. He was facing a minimum of 96 years after his conviction, but the judge decided to give him 305 years. The "justice" system is completely out of control. [1] http://www.denverda.org/News_Release/Releases/2006%20Release/Dipentino%20guilty.pdf http://www.denverda.org/News_Release/Releases/2006%20Release...

slayed0 12y ago
It looks like that guy actually has a blog[1]. Not sure how he has internet access in prison but it looks fairly interesting. [1]http://mjdipentino.blogspot.com/ http://mjdipentino.blogspot.com/
- jonah 12y ago
  Generally prisoners write out their essays and mail them to someone who types them up to put online. Others share audio via calls from prison[1]. [1] http://prisonradio.org/media/audio/Mumia http://prisonradio.org/media/audio/Mumia
fixxer 12y ago
Counterfeiting, IMO and apparently the opinion of the Government (we rarely agree, for the record), is basically on par with treason.
- seanflyon 12y ago
  Counterfeiting seems to me to be on par with fraud and theft. Could you explain why you consider it to be on par with treason?
  - fixxer 12y ago
    You debase a medium of exchange upon which our society is built.
    - seanflyon 12y ago
      So, extracting value that doesn't belong to you, causing financial harm, but not physical harm. Sounds a lot like theft. If you walk into a bank with phony checks and walk out with money that isn't yours, how is that worse than walking in with a gun or sneaking in at night?
      - fixxer 12y ago
        Sure, but theft is a subset of the crime in this case. Counterfeiting is a form of theft that literally destabilizes a regime. As jessaustin pointed out far more eloquently, my view is not novel. The fact that we have an organization within our government (the Secret Service) with a primary mandate of "defending the currency" should be enough for you to connect the dots and realize the counterfeiting is more than theft in the context of a nation. * Steal a radio, you're stealing from a person. * Run a Ponzi scheme, you're stealing from a group of people. * Counterfeit a nation's currency, you are stealing from the people of that country. So, to answer your question: Sure, counterfeiting is just theft. And Hitler was just a killer. Scale matters.
        seanflyon 12y ago
        We all agree that counterfeiting is a serious problem, so of course there is a governmental agency that covers "Financial Crimes, covering missions such as prevention and investigation of counterfeiting of U.S. currency and U.S. treasury securities, and investigation of major fraud" (according to Wikipedia). I think you got to the heart of the matter when you wrote "Scale matters". Murdering millions of people is a bigger deal than murdering one person. Theft of millions of dollars is worse than theft of one dollar. The problem I have is the distinction is made not based on scale but by the means of theft. I suppose the idea is that is is worse to steal one dollar each from a million people than a million dollars from one person, but I disagree with that conclusion.
tomjen3 12y ago
This isn't a U.S. only issue, the maximum penalty for making a false stamp in Denmark is twice that of rape.
- kwhitefoot 12y ago
  But you won't be sentenced to 300 years in prison in Denmark.

slayed0 12y ago

It looks like that guy actually has a blog[1]. Not sure how he has internet access in prison but it looks fairly interesting. [1]http://mjdipentino.blogspot.com/ http://mjdipentino.blogspot.com/

jonah 12y ago
Generally prisoners write out their essays and mail them to someone who types them up to put online. Others share audio via calls from prison[1]. [1] http://prisonradio.org/media/audio/Mumia http://prisonradio.org/media/audio/Mumia

fixxer 12y ago

Counterfeiting, IMO and apparently the opinion of the Government (we rarely agree, for the record), is basically on par with treason.

seanflyon 12y ago
Counterfeiting seems to me to be on par with fraud and theft. Could you explain why you consider it to be on par with treason?
- fixxer 12y ago
  You debase a medium of exchange upon which our society is built.
  - seanflyon 12y ago
    So, extracting value that doesn't belong to you, causing financial harm, but not physical harm. Sounds a lot like theft. If you walk into a bank with phony checks and walk out with money that isn't yours, how is that worse than walking in with a gun or sneaking in at night?
    - fixxer 12y ago
      Sure, but theft is a subset of the crime in this case. Counterfeiting is a form of theft that literally destabilizes a regime. As jessaustin pointed out far more eloquently, my view is not novel. The fact that we have an organization within our government (the Secret Service) with a primary mandate of "defending the currency" should be enough for you to connect the dots and realize the counterfeiting is more than theft in the context of a nation. * Steal a radio, you're stealing from a person. * Run a Ponzi scheme, you're stealing from a group of people. * Counterfeit a nation's currency, you are stealing from the people of that country. So, to answer your question: Sure, counterfeiting is just theft. And Hitler was just a killer. Scale matters.
      - seanflyon 12y ago
        We all agree that counterfeiting is a serious problem, so of course there is a governmental agency that covers "Financial Crimes, covering missions such as prevention and investigation of counterfeiting of U.S. currency and U.S. treasury securities, and investigation of major fraud" (according to Wikipedia). I think you got to the heart of the matter when you wrote "Scale matters". Murdering millions of people is a bigger deal than murdering one person. Theft of millions of dollars is worse than theft of one dollar. The problem I have is the distinction is made not based on scale but by the means of theft. I suppose the idea is that is is worse to steal one dollar each from a million people than a million dollars from one person, but I disagree with that conclusion.

tomjen3 12y ago

This isn't a U.S. only issue, the maximum penalty for making a false stamp in Denmark is twice that of rape.

kwhitefoot 12y ago
But you won't be sentenced to 300 years in prison in Denmark.