Life Sentence for Computer Images

[Lucky]

The New York Times today reports that a 26 year old Florida man has been sentenced to life imprisonment for having pornographic images of children on his computer. This is a longer sentence than if he had actually molested a child, or even children.

Yet two Pennsylvania judges who were convicted in a kickback scam of actually sentencing juveniles to a privately run prison in return for bribes received sentences of only 28 and 17.5 years in prison. In many cases the juveniles would have received no sentence at all, but for the judges' need for money. They directly hurt children's lives, as well as breached their public trust.

Prison sentencing disparities have increased as conservative legislators and judges have increased penalties for various crimes. Often the prisons receive no extra funding,leading to our now common gross overpopulation of prisons. In tight economic crimes, taxpayers cannot handle the funding needed to provide humane prisons.

Of course, humane prisons are not what some people want. Corrupt prison guards can act without worry that they will be caught or even punished if caught. Life in prison for many is a nightmare, well beyond any reasonable punishment for the crime convicted for which they were convicted.

The worst example are these high security prisons such as we have in California's Pelican Bay. There, and at other federal prisons, inmates are confined to their cells for 23 hours a day, and on their short exercise release do not come into contact with any other prisoners. Can you imagine spending 23 hours a day in a windowless room...for years?

Naturally some will say that the prisoners deserve what they get. Prison is for punishment, after all. But our own legal principles require us to use punishment that is not cruel or inhumane. The sentence should be just for the crime commited. We seem to have gotten far from that.

At a minimum, we need to provide prison facilities that are not overcrowded, that use well-trained guards who see their functions in a professional manner, that provide decent meals, that protect the prisoners from predators, and provide humane living conditions that include access to other inmates for conversation and relaxation, as well as plenty of access to fresh air and materials such as libraries and other opportunities for self-advancement.

This has been a Lucky editorial. Nothing is expected to change as a result, but it felt good to vent.

[RA1]

Basically what you are describing is often called Club Fed, a term to describe a minimum security prison for "white collar" criminals. When a person steals from orphans, widows and children, does he or she deserve Club Fed? Not in my opinion.

However, I do agree, as a society, we have over reacted to some crimes and under reacted to others. It does seem like sometimes our definition of humane treatment means we have just brought the stocks indoors out of the weather. OTOH, where does it say that we should or have to provide cable TV, air-conditioning, etc. etc. to inmates? Reading books or watching an occasional movie should be sufficient.

Generally, I have little to no problem with the sherriff in AZ. Inmates should be embarrassed, have to work and have very few "extras". I do think their "published diet" could be improved but growing truck farm vegetables and/or livestock year round in AZ should not be a problem and the labor should come from the inmates.

Best regards,

RA1

[Guest FourAces]

Prison sentences are also based on the part of the country the offense took place. As an example the man who received life in very conservative southern state of FL for the kiddie porn probably would have received much less if standing in front of most California judges.

Here in Texas, as one can imagine, sentences for nearly all crime seems excessive at times. But I do not mind that. I rather error on the side of caution by protecting citizens who follow the laws than to give way to social pressure when sentencing a criminal.

If he is convicted it will be interesting to see what kind of sentence Conrad Murry receives in his high profile case.

[Guest gcursor]

Ah yes...good thread Lucky.

However the world is full of inequalities.Look at Bernie Madoff now. How much money did he swindle from how many people? How many people's lives did he destroy? He is resting rather comfortably now in prison.

How about the people at ENRON? More people's lives destroyed and countless financial destruction. Where are the leaders of that financial swindle at? I remember how Kenneth Lay said in an interview that he felt bad going to restaurants getting take-out instead of being able to dine in. He said he was so sorry and he was sad everyday for what he did.

How about OJ simpson and his brilliant defense dream team? Say what you want but they kept him out of prison for a while until greed got the better of him.

What about Pee-wee Herman? reported some time back of having child pics of a pornographic nature (legal charges were later dropped). Paul Reubens (thats Peewee Herman) commented at the time that he thought the photos were more of a "kitschy" nature and did not consider them to be pornographic. Now he has a show in California and several other projects in the works.

How about ex HP CEO Mark Hurd? Praised by many when he was at the company, he brought seemingly unending profits to the shareholders as he relentlessly laid off thousands upon thousands of workers increasing the company's bottom line. However he used his business expense account to pay for some "off the book" affair with his mistress that his wife/and HP was unaware of. Apparently he paid the poor woman "hush money" from his own personal account but she eventually decided it wasn't enough and that's when things started to unravel. Finally Mark Hurd was forced to resign from HP in shame along with many millions of dollars for a severance package. WHat happened to him? OH..he's one of the executives over at Oracle now bashing HP whenever he can..and probably doing it with an even BIGGER expense account and MORE mistresses.

Does anybody really care though? Of course not.

[MsGuy]

Here in Texas... sentences for nearly all crime seems excessive at times. I rather error on the side of caution by protecting citizens who follow the laws than to give way to social pressure when sentencing a criminal.

The ability of Texas judges to stand tall in the saddle against all that social pressure for soft sentences never ceases to amaze.

[Lucky]

Even the one time the Board of Parole, or whatever it is called, recommended clemency, Governor Poofter refused it and had the guy executed.

Aces, of course you don't mind, few do until they are the ones being victimized by a group of people who only give lip service to the Constitution.

[Guest FourAces]

Even the one time the Board of Parole, or whatever it is called, recommended clemency, Governor Poofter refused it and had the guy executed.

Aces, of course you don't mind, few do until they are the ones being victimized by a group of people who only give lip service to the Constitution.

Not sure what you mean Lucky. But here in Texas we do have the highest over turn conviction rate based on DNA. So we do have checks and balances in place though DNA being relatively new to the mix.

I never want to see an innocent man / woman sentenced in error and I think the governor of any state should follow the boards recommendations ... otherwise why have the board at all?

[Guest FourAces]

Just want to add to the original thread topic, that there are various levels of kiddie porn. Did the guy have solo pics of little kids naked or were they having sex with adults or each other? I think that that the aggressiveness could factor into a sentence.

[MsGuy]

Not sure what you mean Lucky. But here in Texas we do have the highest over turn conviction rate based on DNA. So we do have checks and balances in place though DNA being relatively new to the mix.

I never want to see an innocent man / woman sentenced in error and I think the governor of any state should follow the boards recommendations ... otherwise why have the board at all?

Having the highest post conviction reversal rate based on new DNA findings implies a high false conviction rate in the first place. What does that say about the guys in Texas prisons who were accused of crimes where DNA evidence does not come into play?

[Lucky]

Four Aces, this comment did not leave me warm:

"Here in Texas, as one can imagine, sentences for nearly all crime seems excessive at times. But I do not mind that. I rather error on the side of caution by protecting citizens who follow the laws than to give way to social pressure when sentencing a criminal."

The law requires that we err on the side of the one who has the presumption of innocence, not the state. You prefer innocent people to suffer just to avoid an error?

[lookin]

From the child porn article:

Steve Maresca, the assistant state attorney in the case, said that in his view, Mr. Vilca "received a sentence pursuant to the sentencing guidelines."

"Too many people just look at this as a victimless crime, and that's not true," he said. "These children are victimized, and when the images are shown over and over again, they're victimized over and over again."

What if there were no victims? My understanding is that computer-generated images and the like are just as illegal as photographs of actual people. Maybe sentencing guidelines make a distinction but, even then, couldn't a sentencing judge blur the line?

I also tracked down the article on the two Pennsylvania judges who sent kids to a for-profit pokey in return for kickbacks. Nasty pair. Four thousand juvenile convictions overturned.

Remind me to avoid the legal system.

[MsGuy]

Remind me to avoid the legal system.

Lookin, under no circumstances do you want to be on the receiving end of the criminal justice system.

Consider your self reminded.