Wednesday, June 29, 2011
Interesting piece on why the judge in the Madoff case settled on a 150 year stretch for his sentence. In general I am of the view that US sentencing laws are far too severe-- they've got similar goons, goofs, gonifs and skels in Western Europe and a ten year stretch is considered pretty unusual there for even the worst crimes. Japan is pretty tough-- and the Japanese are even harsher on capital cases. They don't tell the condemned prisoner when it is coming, they just show up one day. China tends not to favor long sentences, but that's because the list of capital crimes is like that Far Side cartoon about veterinary treatment for horses: Shoot Him. Shoot Him. Shoot Him. Of course the Middle East is also not inclined to waste a lot of time supporting incarcerated people, although they show a great deal of variety in the forms of execution favored for each crime. 150 years for Bernie? Speaking as a Mets fan I'd say that's about right.
// posted by Bill @ 8:01 AM 
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