What I love is that stealing money is worth 150 years, but DUI manslaughter is only worth 30 days if you are famous. (Donte' Stallworth)As much of a bastard as this guy is, it's pretty hard to believe that stealing money is worthy of a sentence of 150 years. That's a lifetime and a half..for stealing. What an asinine, draconian sentencing.
What caused this to happen, same as Enron, is the fact that the people doing this type of thing think they're invincible because they have money. The more of them that get thrown in jail, the more of them who will think twice.This is another classic instance of short-sighted mob rage distracting people from the real problems that allowed this crime to happen in the first place.
Yes, because allowing him to profit from his crime is clearly the solution. That breeds the mentality that you can go ahead and break the law, as long as you're developing useful skills you can use to weasel your way out of real punishment after you're caught. Madoff isn't some common street thug from a bad background who might have fucked up once or twice doing what he needed to do to survive; he was someone who would have had enough money anyways without scamming people, and who was cold, calculating, and in control of his actions the whole time.If anything, Madoff should be given a job with the government, teaching them how to detect fraud in a similar fashion to how companies hire hackers to tweak computer security. That will actually put him to good use, and it will help people in the long run as well as pointing out some of the flaws that need to be fixed in our system.
I highly doubt that, considering that you have to be pretty much convinced that you will never be caught before you commit such a huge theft. These things don't just happen overnight, countless amounts of planning went into it.What caused this to happen, same as Enron, is the fact that the people doing this type of thing think they're invincible because they have money. The more of them that get thrown in jail, the more of them who will think twice.
Is your sarcasm detector broken?Yes, because allowing him to profit from his crime is clearly the solution. That breeds the mentality that you can go ahead and break the law, as long as you're developing useful skills you can use to weasel your way out of real punishment after you're caught.
Then why don't we just let him go without any punishment at all? Clearly that is the answer, if "nothing works."I highly doubt that, considering that you have to be pretty much convinced that you will never be caught before you commit such a huge theft. These things don't just happen overnight, countless amounts of planning went into it.
So maybe they need to get better at catching these people. When they do, it's still not going to deter anyone if you're not punished when you're caught.Prison has two functions: to deter crime and to prevent criminals from committing more crimes (since they can't leave the prison). Considering that Madoff was only caught because he admitted to this crime, clearly he rightly didn't need to worry about being caught. Future criminals will look at this as evidence that these type of crimes are easy to get away with unless you confess, not as a reason not to commit them.
Bernie Madoff pretty much gave a huge "fuck you" to the rules of organized society. I don't think it's too far off base to give him a huge "fuck you" right back. This isn't something petty like drug use (which shouldn't even be a crime) or purse-snatching, this is a cold, calculated effort to destroy the lives of numerous individuals over the span of decades.So, I don't support any prison time for Madoff. It's purely vindictive.
I'm advocating a very harsh punishment: loss of your assets and restrictions on what financial activities you can carry out. That's good enough. There's no reason to lock people up when it doesn't accomplish anything. In fact you could presumably run an illegal financial scam from within prison if you still have assets. We're supposed to be above exacting revenge on criminals.When they do, it's still not going to deter anyone if you're not punished when you're caught.
Yes.I only wish we could keep him alive for even a fraction of those 150 years so he could live and suffer and reap what he fucking sowed. Fuck him.
And yes.You're right, but tell that to the people he bankrupted whose lives he completely ruined. Also, as a future law student with a degree in criminal justice: I don't buy the "prison as a deterrent" argument for one second, never have. It's a punishment, and everyone knows it. (And a shitty one, at that.)
Except for the part where the ex referee of the NBA is serving a sentence for betting on games, and now he has to go through surgery on his knee, because of some gang member, and he's been threatened many times to "get his head shot off". I don't know, jail is such a fun place and an easy punishment! Not to mention the number of women raped in this prison during a prison riot. Even more fun!Frankly, I do not think that prison in and of itself is that horrible of a punishment. What could be worse than getting three meals a day, full insurance, free time, and a roof over your head that you don't have to pay for?
I'm not a supporter of the cruel and unusual, but I am a fan of strong punishment. Kids learn rules through being beat (for lack of a better word), not through sitting in time-out. The same applies to criminals imho.
Except the majority of people in prison don't have to deal with that shit.Except for the part where the ex referee of the NBA is serving a sentence for betting on games, and now he has to go through surgery on his knee, because of some gang member, and he's been threatened many times to "get his head shot off".