Madoff: 150 Years
Bernard Madoff pleaded guilty. In fact, since getting rumbled, he seems to have been very honest about what he did. Which is a small mercy, really. After all, his career and life (up until he got caught) was based largely around deceit. I'd have expected him to continue lying, even after the delicate tissue of lies his business *empire* was based around came crashing down around him.
Madoff isn't a war criminal, he isn't a serial killer or a child molester. But we shouldn't underestimate the extent to which he has fucked up people's lives. A hefty prison sentence would be good here, and since Madoff is an old man, it may well be that prison sentence means he spends the rest of his life behind bars. I think, given he has lived in the lap of luxury at the expense of other people's savings and homes, that would be fair enough. But this is just plain silly:
He is facing 11 charges that carry a maximum sentence of 150 years.
Sure, he might not get the full sentence, but 150 years in prison as a concept is just stupid. It sounds really, really dumb. If Madoff lived long enough to complete his sentence, he would be circa 220 years old. But something tells me he isn't going to live quite that long. Hell, even if he was a new born babe being put straight into the slammer, he still wouldn't live out the whole of his sentence. God knows when Madoff would actually be eligible for parole if he gets this sentence; probably sometime around 2109.
If they want to put Madoff in prison for the rest of his life, fair enough. But don't talk total bollocks like giving him a century and a half in prison. It is meaningless, and it just sounds plain stupid.
posted by The Nameless Libertarian @ 10:19 am
8 Comments
8 Comments:
It's the American Way, stupid and showy.
150 years? Pif.
The longest ever sentence handed out was in Iran in 1969 when two confidence tricksters were sent down for just a smidgen over 7,000 years. Yes, seven MILLENNIA.
Now that's what I call justice... (volume 72, available in all good music shops and for free at dodgy torrent sites everywhere)
That is pretty hardcore. Even the most hardened criminal must feel daunted when they enter prison on Day 1 of a 7,000 year sentence.
Its only done so your parole date is way after you are dead it keeps the bleeding hearts at bay.
Free Ronnie Biggs NOW
Actually. I like it. It sounds logical and fair to me. The fact that a criminal can't serve a sentence is no reason not to give it to them. From that logic flows the descent into 50p a week fines for poverty stricken burglarising drug addicts and community service for misunderstood layabout youths who beat the crap out of pensioners.
The punishment should fit the crime, not the criminal. Taking into account the personal circumstances of the criminal just means that you are saying some people have more right to commit crime than others.
The alternative is to suggest that sentences should be served in parallel. In that case it becomes rewarding to always commit more crimes simultaneously. If I kill one person and get 25 years, I might as well kill two and serve the second 25 in parallel, hell why not three, four, a hundred?
Andy,
A life sentence would achieve the same as a 150 year sentence (Madoff would die in prison) but would sound 123% less dumb.
TNL
I agree - realistically, sentencing somebody to 150 years in prison is rather silly.
A sentence of at least 20 years in the Supermax Prison in Florence, Colorado would've been more appropriate.
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