Picture of everything wrong with the US justice system

[DracoSuave]

The problem with the justice system is shown by a lot of people posting in this thread trying to state that the amount of money stolen is the problem, rather than other effects of the crime that are not measured in dollar signs.


Homeless guy used terror to secure funds. Businessman used deceit. Terror is more punishable than deceit. The amount of money stolen is not relevant to these two ideals.

If the business man lied to trick 100$ from someone, and the homeless guy used terror to steal millions, it's still the same point: Terror vs deceit.

 

[Saelune]

Think of it this way. That homeless guy now has a home and consistant food for 15 years.
That buisness guy now has a <6 year time period to get stabbed. (Sure the homeless guy does too, but hes probably just as likely to get stabbed being homeless too)

Uh...the business man is only going to be incarcerated for just three years and four months, not six years. And I thought that fraud in this case was considered a type of theft.

Also, Captcha: emplos OFFICE (

<6 means under 6.

 

[dyre]

The US Justice System, like most justice systems, relies on human judgement. There's no "You've stolen $100 while pretending to have a gun in your pocket, but turned yourself in shortly after, so you get 15 years" clause; the judge makes the decision.

Some judges are harsher than others. It's not a perfect world.

Also, first degree robbery probably has higher consequences than corporate fraud because in many cases, robbery leads to physical harm.

 

[Cazza]

ARMED ROBBERY Doesn't matter that he didn't have a gun. Doesn't matter he was homless.

Fraud vs Armed Robbery That sentence makes sense.

 

[renegade7]

While I agree this is fucked up, fraud is treated differently than theft by force, particularly from a bank, and given that he claimed it was a robbery, he probably also scared a lot of people, it's like pulling a fire alarm or talking about bombs in an airport, and yes you can do hard time for both of those.

It actually does happen where desperate homeless people commit crimes specifically so they will get put in jail. Obviously prison life is unpleasant, but if you're starving on the streets it can just look like free food, shelter, and medical care.