
Judges Plead Guilty in Scheme to Jail Youths for Profit - robg
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/13/us/13judge.html?hp=&pagewanted=all
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blackguardx
I am really disappointed in the pitifully short length of sentence that the
prosecution offered. Eight years seems to pale in comparison with the level
corruption and outright abuse of power that they committed.

Being sent to juvenile detention can ruin your life. Those aren't nice places
to be.

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patio11
Sentencing guidelines being what they are, 8 years is pretty harsh. If the
judges had snapped and shot one of the kids in the heart they would have
gotten, statistically speaking, about ten or so.

As a normative question, I agree that we should punish the heck out of
official misconduct. The possibility for damage is just so darn high. I mean,
these men essentially engaged in _serial kidnapping under the color of law_.
They need to be made an example of so the next time anyone gets a bright idea
about selling their badge or gavel they go "Oh no way, not gonna do it".

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divia
An additional reason in favor of making the punishment for this harsher than
for murder is that as I understand it it's often the case that the severity of
a sentence is related to the chance of getting caught. I bet it's a lot easier
to catch a murderer than a corrupt judge, so to deter the judge, we need a
longer sentence. I've heard this as an explanation for why arson has such
stiff sentences--most arsonists aren't caught.

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joeyo
This principle doesn't make any sense to me. The severity of the sentence is
(or should be) proportional to the severity of the crime. In this case, the
harm that a corrupt judge can cause is extremely large, and society does not
tolerate this.

The reason why arson has such a stiff sentence--and indeed why arson of one's
own house is illegal--is because fire has the potential to spread, killing
many people and destroying many properties. If you think back to the middle
ages, when the common law principles of arson arose (think wood dwellings with
thatch roofs and few or no fire brigades), fire spread more rapidly and was
more deadly than it is even today. As such, the punishment had to be severe.

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Eliezer
This is easily the most disgusting corruption I've ever heard of being
practiced in modern America. So many lives ruined for so little.

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jacquesm
What surprises me is that everybody thinks that this is the only instance of
such a thing happening.

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ajmoir
Educated/erudite citizens know the law is rotten to the core with not one
redeeming feature. That's not to say all people working in the law are rotten
but a good many are damaged in one way or another.

The populous see the law as some sort of high point of civilization. Somehow
vital to life. Impossible to conceive of a system of justice that does not
involve in some combination the law/judiciary/enforcers/punishment.

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asciilifeform
Any suggestions for such a system?

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krakensden
Privately run prisons have plenty of incentives to be monstrous, and only
feel-good ones to do the right thing. Unfortunately, the private prisons cat
is out of the bag and over the horizon.

Maybe we could pay them based on the recidivism rate?

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nazgulnarsil
easy. have prisons compete for prisoners. prisoners are allowed to choose
which prison to go to. a natural equilibrium of supply and demand will
develop.

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noonespecial
Whoa! I just flashed hard on school vouchers. (Prison vouchers!?) All of the
arguments I can think of in favor of the one fit perfectly on the other.
Scary.

Nice concept. I now have the plotline for a wonderful dystopian movie
percolating in my head.

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dfranke
There's a clear distinction, though. Prisons are not designed for the benefit
of the imprisoned. Compulsory schooling is, at least in theory, for the
students' own good.

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ajmoir
'Compulsory schooling is, at least in theory, for the students' own good.'

Rubbish. Schooling is for the good of society. Schooling != Education. Nothing
in school benefits the student. Everything is about preparing the student for
the workforce. The main subject taught in school is obedience.

You should probably read John Gatto to get a clearer picture how and why
schools came about. It most certainly was not to educate the working class.

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dfranke
I'm quite familiar with Gatto's thesis, and, having been through the public
school system myself, I consider it self-evident. The phrase "at least in
theory" was meant to communicate my skepticism of the surrounding claim; sorry
if that didn't come across. I mean that most members of society believe they
are acting in children's best interest by requiring them to attend school,
while the primary motivation for keeping prisoners in prison is to protect the
safety of others. I agree with you that practical distinction between schools
and prisons is much smaller than what most people delude themselves into
believing it is.

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yason
What? Guilty in Scheme? And now I realise this wasn't a Lisp article!

I should start to skim the subjects more carefully.

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vaksel
Why is it in our society the people in power who abuse their authority always
get slapped with a smaller sentences than a regular citizen would get in the
same situation?

It should be the other way around, these people should get harsher penalties,
simply because they abuse the public's trust.

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elai
Because they understand and know the system and have connections. That's why.
Why do you think rich people can get less harsh sentencing than poor people
(unless there is a lot of media/political attention?), because they can hire
lawyers.

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vinutheraj
Wow ... corruption is more insidious than I thought. I thought such corruption
happened only in developing nations like mine.

I think its a problem with humans, corruption, no society is free from it.

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elai
Corruption in developed countries is just significantly more subtle.

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Mistone
whats the punishment for the private prison that paid the judges? may i
suggest a ten minute sentence in the yard at San Quentin, should set those
bastards straight.

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critic
If there ever was a crime that deserved a death sentence...

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shaunxcode
direct link: <http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/13/us/13judge.html>

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omnivore
Glad it was revealed and not surprised at all.

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giles_bowkett
that's interesting but why is it on hacker news? what has it got to do with
anything hacker newsy?

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almost
Exactly, we really don't need another "Fucked up things in the American
justice systems"-news site.

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d13hard
i would think you would want a strongly typed language for something like this

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time_management
If there's a Satan, he's waiting for these judges to die with a huge hard-on.

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giles_bowkett
why the hell would the judges die with a hard-on? that doesn't even make
sense.

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critic
Because if you die with a huge hard-on, you go to hell.

