STONE COLD WRONG

We can make the case that the current "lock-em up and throw away the key" mentality originated in the late 1970's-1980's, when cities were besieged from a never ending miasma of violent crime fueled by a drug epidemic. A few notorious media cases of lenient sentences, the bestowing of nicknames like "let-em-go...[add name of judge here], stir, mix, rinse, repeat, and voila!- you have the  crime bill under President Clinton and the dismemberment of the traditional role of judges by the enactment of a slew of minimum mandatory prison sentences. 

Twenty-five plus years later you have a generation of poor, mostly black young men swallowed and forgotten  in the maw of the federal and state prison systems, and a philosophy of warehousing anyone unlucky enough to be caught in the criminal justice system. 

When did we accept the fact that it is appropriate to throw away the life of an individual because judges should "send a message" to others? As if potential criminals sit around daily reading the transcripts of sentencings and making decisions on whether or not to commit a crime based on what someone else was sentenced to. 

When did we accept that prison is easy? That losing your wealth to lawyers and fines and forfeitures, and losing your inability to support your family was an insignificant side-effect of a criminal conviction? When did the nation decide that eating slop, having your entire future in the hands of nasty and spiteful corrections officers, losing the inability to seek health care when you need it, losing the inability to make the basic decisions about when you can shower or use a bathroom was easy and that prison was no big deal and that inmates in prison are laughing at us? 

When did we decide that non-violent crimes requires incarceration beyond a year or two? 

Roger Stone was sentenced on Thursday to 40 months. Those who do not like what he stands for (mostly liberals who in the past have always been accused of being soft on crime) are outraged at how low the sentence is. 
We say go serve a day in prison and then tell us 40 months is a slap-on-the-wrist. 

It's time we bring back sanity to sentencing. There should be no prison for non-violent first offenders who do not victimize others (so do not send us Bernie Madoff as an example of a non-violent first offender- he victimized others).  Age should be a factor in sentencing. Juveniles are too young to fully appreciate their actions. People who are in the 60's or 70's represent almost a zero risk of recidivism. The ability to electronic monitor people has removed the need for incarcerating many of the people who are now sent to prison. 

Love him or hate him, the sentence for Roger Stone is stone cold wrong.  His sentence highlights all that is wrong with the federal sentencing system. 

PARDON US

The ABA had this to say:

The American Bar Association steadfastly supports judicial independence and the sound exercise of prosecutorial discretion. Public officials who personally attack judges or prosecutors can create a perception that the system is serving a political or other purpose rather than the fair administration of justice. It is incumbent upon public officials and members of the legal profession, whose sworn duty it is to uphold the law, to do everything in their power to preserve the integrity of the justice system.

Judy Perry Martinez

President, American Bar Association

Legally speaking, and we are going to use some technical legal terms, The ABA are idiots.

Lets review. The DOJ files a memo seeking to incarcerate a 68 year old political gadfly for a decade for lying to Congress, and all the ABA can do is criticize the president for speaking out against draconian sentences? 

The ABA are idiots. 

Sure the president is protecting a political crony. But this is an opportunity to talk about sanity in sentencing. Why do we have guidelines that recommend incarceration for non-violent offenders for decades?  Maybe it's time to have that discussion. 

We all know that there are hundreds of collateral consequences of a criminal conviction. You lose your wealth. You lose your ability to work in a meaningful way. And you lose your freedom. 

Does the DOJ really think that if Roger Stone got five years there are people who would say to themselves "I'm thinking of obstructing justice and if Roger Stone got ten years I wouldn't do it, but since he got only five, I'm gonna give it a whirl." ?

If all the ABA can do out of this mess is support the martyred prosecutors who were the ones trying to put Roger Stone in prison for a decade, then in our considered opinion...and you may have heard this before...

The ABA are idiots. They missed a chance for real change.