
Anonymous hacker faces 16 years in prison, while Steubenville rapists walk free - Jerry2
https://www.rt.com/usa/358728-anonymous-trial-steubenville-rape/
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tonyhb
This outcome is blatantly wrong from any way you look at the story. How can we
help fix this?

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Sacho
This outcome isn't an outcome yet, so I don't know how it can possibly be
blatantly wrong. The hacker has not been sentenced yet, the rape perpetrators
were. Comparing a "possible lifetime + cancer" sentence to an actually imposed
one is poor journalism - please check out either
[https://popehat.com/2013/03/26/cloudy-with-a-chance-of-
shitt...](https://popehat.com/2013/03/26/cloudy-with-a-chance-of-shitty-
journalism/) or [https://popehat.com/2015/10/08/bad-reporting-on-matthew-
keys...](https://popehat.com/2015/10/08/bad-reporting-on-matthew-keys-
possible-sentence-conceals-prosecutorial-power/) for an explanation why this
kind of reporting is just wrong.

But even if you don't read those blog posts, consider this - the reported
sentences are the maximum possible under the statute. From there, you would
apply contextual circumstances - what the actual circumstances of the crime
were, criminal history, admission of guilt, likelihood of recidivism, danger
to society, whatever else the judge might find important, and adjust the
sentence. Unless you think the hacker has undoubtedly committed the most
egregious hacking crime, then he's not getting the maximum sentence.

And is the outcome for the rape perpetrators "blatantly wrong"? I don't really
know the specifics of the case. Just quickly reading this CNN report -
[http://edition.cnn.com/2013/03/17/justice/ohio-
steubenville-...](http://edition.cnn.com/2013/03/17/justice/ohio-steubenville-
case/index.html) \- you can find out they're minors, they were remorseful, the
rape was not violent, and most importantly, jail was not the only punishment
they received - they were put on the sex offenders registry, which will most
likely ruin their chances at having a decent life.

~~~
tomjen3
Who gives a shit if they are minors? They still ruined a girls life.

~~~
tptacek
Minors shoot and kill people all the time, too. In US culture and
jurisprudence, we tend to weigh heavily factors that diminish offenders
capacity to distinguish right from wrong, and teenagers have both diminished
judgement and impulse control capabilities that are at their lifetime low.

We generally try, at least ostensibly, to recognize that long sentences serve
no practical purpose when applied to someone who will in just a few years be
for many purposes a _biologically different person_.

~~~
Tomte
How does "tried as an adult" fit into that view?

I've never understood why you would go to the trouble of having special
juvenile criminal sentencing ranges and juvenile courts when oftentimes a
juvenile does something really bad he is tried as an adult (even more so in
the UK, it seems). It would be more straightforward to just exclude murder and
other grave crimes from juvenile court altogether.

~~~
tptacek
Yeah, it's pretty fucked up.

