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one_voice

(20,043 posts)
Wed Dec 28, 2011, 11:43 AM Dec 2011

Crime does pay....



RALEIGH, N.C. — A man sentenced for stealing a TV nearly three decades ago walked out of prison Friday as a free man.

In 1970, Junior Allen went to prison for stealing a $140 TV set from 87-year-old Lessie Johnson in Johnston County.

Johnson's family said he roughed her up on his way out. However, nothing about an assault came up at trial nor was Allen ever charged with one.

http://www.wral.com/news/local/story/117412/

There are a number of benefits to a plea bargain, not the least of which is the government is much more amenable to drafting the deal in such a way as to reach a mutually agreeable sentence. The recent guilty plea by Drew K. Brownstein to an insider trading charge illustrates how a potential sentence can be reduced by leaving out transactions that lower the gain from the illegal trading.

Mr. Brownstein, a Denver-based hedge fund manager known as Bo, pleaded guilty to one count of securities fraud based on information he received from Drew Peterson about the pending acquisition of Mariner Energy by the Apache Corporation. Mr. Peterson received the information from his father, H. Clayton Peterson, who was on Mariner’s board when he learned about the impending deal.

http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2011/10/24/the-vanishing-2-5-million-in-insider-trading-profits/



17 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
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Crime does pay.... (Original Post) one_voice Dec 2011 OP
The lesson there is "If you're going to steal, think big" hobbit709 Dec 2011 #1
or be white and rich already n/t Tsiyu Dec 2011 #4
jon corzine 'lost' a billion or so...not even charged spanone Dec 2011 #2
I know... one_voice Dec 2011 #3
Yep Solly Mack Dec 2011 #5
There's another one of these floating around as well. Helps make the point. n/t Scuba Dec 2011 #6
more lessons from this. maggiesfarmer Dec 2011 #7
Gee... one_voice Dec 2011 #8
shocked because I actually put thought into it? maggiesfarmer Dec 2011 #14
Uh, sure... one_voice Dec 2011 #15
It's not the amount of money, it's the violence treestar Dec 2011 #9
Well, when People's retirement accounts are stolen from them, isn't that dangerous?... Scuba Dec 2011 #10
it is a violent act dana_b Dec 2011 #13
Sure treestar Dec 2011 #16
So if the bodily harm comes indirectly, it's judged less harshly. n/t Scuba Dec 2011 #17
It's *always* entertaining, imagining how the justification will go. Romulox Dec 2011 #11
Jim Baker got 50 years.... one_voice Dec 2011 #12

maggiesfarmer

(297 posts)
7. more lessons from this.
Wed Dec 28, 2011, 12:54 PM
Dec 2011

it's better to be sentenced by a federal court in 2011 than a NC state court in 1970.
it's better to not have a prior arrest record for violent crimes when being sentenced.
it's best if the family of the victim doesn't testify as to how the accused committed assault in the course of the robbery.
it's best to not commit over 60 violations while imprisoned if trying to get paroled.

In seriousness, I appreciate that the US criminal justice system has a lot of flaws and is susceptible to many kinds of bias, not the least of which is racial. However, this graphic is really comparing the proverbial 'apples and oranges'.

Suggestions:
find data comparing average sentences, by race, from the same court for the same crimes.
find data with a larger sample size than 2.

maggiesfarmer

(297 posts)
14. shocked because I actually put thought into it?
Wed Dec 28, 2011, 01:39 PM
Dec 2011

shocked because I actually spent a couple minutes looking up the back story?
shocked because I believe public policy should be based on how it impacts the masses and not on an emotional appeal based on two extreme, unrelated data points?

treestar

(82,383 posts)
9. It's not the amount of money, it's the violence
Wed Dec 28, 2011, 01:01 PM
Dec 2011

This is not a good argument to follow.

Or the potential for violence. Breaking into someone's home is far more dangerous than paper crimes.

And don't claim I'm "defending" the one per center. I am defending the laws making it more serious to break into someone's house rather than move money on paper.

 

Scuba

(53,475 posts)
10. Well, when People's retirement accounts are stolen from them, isn't that dangerous?...
Wed Dec 28, 2011, 01:05 PM
Dec 2011

... not minimizing the violence issue, but we need to also recognize that people are harmed by the actions of white collar crime.



edited for type

dana_b

(11,546 posts)
13. it is a violent act
Wed Dec 28, 2011, 01:13 PM
Dec 2011

there will be many that will suffer because of that one person's greed. Who knows where/how they will end up and they will most likely NOT get a chance to testify in court.

treestar

(82,383 posts)
16. Sure
Wed Dec 28, 2011, 02:25 PM
Dec 2011

I don't say there should not be penalties, severe ones, for white collar crimes, too.

Just that the criminal law is first concerned with bodily harm, with harm to property coming in second, which is rational IMO.

Romulox

(25,960 posts)
11. It's *always* entertaining, imagining how the justification will go.
Wed Dec 28, 2011, 01:07 PM
Dec 2011

Of course the fact that there will be a justification is taken as read.

one_voice

(20,043 posts)
12. Jim Baker got 50 years....
Wed Dec 28, 2011, 01:11 PM
Dec 2011

what about the man that kills himself because someone just moved paper?

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