A man who was accidentally released from prison 88 years early • Hacker News Board

Re: A man who was accidentally released from prison 88 years early

#101

Post by josinalvo » Tue, Apr 07, 2015, 10:09 PM UTC

joshstrange wrote: post #13

hyperbovine wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Fifteen years while loved ones of the deceased spend the rest of their lives in mourning? Thank God I'm not.

FYI "because I want the person to suffer" is not a valid reason to lock someone up. We lock people up as a punishment just like your parents may have sent you to your room when you were acting up. We do it under the thinking of they won't do it again once they've paid their debt but that thinking is flawed on SO many level. Among them are: 1. Prison does NOT reform people in fact it pushes many deeper into a life of…

point 3 is not factually correct (at least as far as 'males') http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/09/11/men-women-prison-se...

Re: A man who was accidentally released from prison 88 years early

#102

Post by mynameismonkey » Tue, Apr 07, 2015, 10:12 PM UTC

aero142 wrote: post #90

r00fus wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sounds not unlike the non-insured experience at any hospital - you get charged with insane amounts of stuff so they can negotiate discounted reasonable rates with insurance companies. If you don't have representation you basically get shafted.

I've often thought I need a medical agent for negotiating with hospitals and navigating my insurance. Do you know of anyone doing this? Might be a company idea in there somewhere. Medical negotiation agent.

http://billadvocates.com/ http://hospitalbillreview.com/ http://thekarisgroup.com/

lots and lots of these

Re: A man who was accidentally released from prison 88 years early

#103

Post by maratd » Tue, Apr 07, 2015, 10:18 PM UTC

psychometry wrote: post #36

waterfowl wrote: post #29

The insanity of the charges/sentencing reminds me of a passage from The Hot House (which is excellent, Pete Earley somehow got permission to go mingle with prisoners at USP Leavenworth for a year and write about it). A Bank Robber, 45 'They originally charged me with murder, kidnapping, and bank robbery, but I'm really just a bank robber with really bad luck. You see, my buddy and me were robbing this bank, and when…

The deal you get from prosecutors is only as good as your lawyer and good lawyers cost money. This is what happens when the criminal justice system is run by politicking judges and prosecutors elected by a public whose understanding of punitive systems doesn't get any more nuanced than "let's be hard on crime!"

> This is what happens when the criminal justice system is run by politicking judges and prosecutors elected by a public

The same stupidity is on display in states that don't elect their judges or prosecutors.

The problem is that there is no incentive for actual justice. Neither the judge nor the prosecutor pay for the incarceration. Nor do they care for how long the individual is incarcerated.

Might be nice if they were given a limited number of years to distribute among their convicts. A little scarcity might to do the system some good.

Re: A man who was accidentally released from prison 88 years early

#104

Post by barking » Tue, Apr 07, 2015, 10:23 PM UTC

DangerousPie wrote: post #80

barking wrote: post #76

I would like to see clemency for this man but I don't view the european system as being necessarily superior to the USA. In my country there are a lot of avowedly unrepentant murderers walking the streets after 'life' sentences that in some cases lasted less than a decade. The state has decided to show compassion. It's easy to forgive someone when you're not the victim or one of those who loved a victim. Personally I…

If this was really an issue, shouldn't the murder rates in European countries be a lot higher than in the US? According to Wikipedia [0] the "intentional homicide" rate in the US is 4.7, in the UK 1.0 and in Germany 0.8. Shouldn't those numbers be reversed if the European system was releasing "avowedly unrepentant murderers" back onto the streets? [0] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_intentiona...

I don't think that follows.

You might as well infer that the european rate is lower because we release murderers.

The statistics you quote don't support either view, I believe.

Re: A man who was accidentally released from prison 88 years early

#105

Post by anigbrowl » Tue, Apr 07, 2015, 10:24 PM UTC

psychometry wrote: post #36

waterfowl wrote: post #29

The insanity of the charges/sentencing reminds me of a passage from The Hot House (which is excellent, Pete Earley somehow got permission to go mingle with prisoners at USP Leavenworth for a year and write about it). A Bank Robber, 45 'They originally charged me with murder, kidnapping, and bank robbery, but I'm really just a bank robber with really bad luck. You see, my buddy and me were robbing this bank, and when…

The deal you get from prosecutors is only as good as your lawyer and good lawyers cost money. This is what happens when the criminal justice system is run by politicking judges and prosecutors elected by a public whose understanding of punitive systems doesn't get any more nuanced than "let's be hard on crime!"

You're leaving out the legislators that put these laws on the books in the first place, and often require mandatory minimum sentences because voters like politicians who are 'tough on crime.'

Re: A man who was accidentally released from prison 88 years early

#106

Post by jonah » Tue, Apr 07, 2015, 10:33 PM UTC

slayed0 wrote: post #91

downandout wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you think this sentence was unjust, there is another Colorado prisoner named Michael Dipentino. He is currently serving a 305 year sentence. What was his heinous crime? According to the Denver DA [1] he created phony checks to buy $200,000 worth of postage stamps, that he later pawned or resold. He was facing a minimum of 96 years after his conviction, but the judge decided to give him 305 years. The "justice" sys…

It looks like that guy actually has a blog[1]. Not sure how he has internet access in prison but it looks fairly interesting. [1] http://mjdipentino.blogspot.com/

Generally prisoners write out their essays and mail them to someone who types them up to put online.

Others share audio via calls from prison[1].

[1] http://prisonradio.org/media/audio/Mumia

Re: A man who was accidentally released from prison 88 years early

#107

Post by jpgvm » Tue, Apr 07, 2015, 10:46 PM UTC

Heh, I found the most ironic part to be where he talks about the simplicity of prison life. Everything is paid for and he simply studies.

Makes you start to think about what the proportionality of these sentences actually work out in the eyes of the victim of the crime.

In some way the victim wants them awarded the biggest punishment possible, but at the same time that punishment comes out of their pocket in taxes that go to keep this person behind bars for an unreasonable amount of time.

I don't know what the numbers are but that sounds awfully expensive to me and if I was an employee at a video store that got robbed I really don't think I would like all that additional burden on the economy as retribution for a few minutes of fear.

Re: A man who was accidentally released from prison 88 years early

#108

Post by onnoonno » Tue, Apr 07, 2015, 10:47 PM UTC

song wrote: post #94

mineshaftgap wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Germans don't cross an empty street against the light and register with the police every time they move. I am not sure you can really compare the two.

I've spent quite some time in Germany and well I'm sorry to shatter your bubble but Germans do cross an empty street when the light is red. I've even seen people party in nightclubs and go outside to drink vodka or other drinks they bought in their car. And to further tear your argument, Spanish who have a "reputation" in Europe of crossing by red light and of having a bit more of loose attitude towards rules have a…

> I don't know but having lived in all three countries, I don't see that many differences in term of people's character that could explain the difference in murder rate.

No offense, but could this be selection bias? You have certainly only talked to a selected subset of people..

I think if 80% of the U.S. population would want a thorough reform of their justice system, it would happen.

What exactly would an 'external' factor be for you?

Re: A man who was accidentally released from prison 88 years early

#109

Post by qiqing » Tue, Apr 07, 2015, 10:47 PM UTC

merpnderp wrote: post #56

qiqing wrote: post #27

The U.S. incarcerates more people than China. Not per capita, mind you. More total people. If ever there's a stellar example of the kind of disaster that can result from privatizing a government function, this is it. Private prisons have a strong profit motive to increase the number of people behind bars until we have the kind of situation we have today in the U.S. These are folks who can afford to pay lobbyists to c…

I don't know that you can directly compare the two judicial systems. Especially when China executes roughly 61 times as many prisoners - often for petty crimes from repeat offenders. That being said the US puts far too many people in jail, often for far too long of sentences.

Also, prison contractors get more taxpayer dollars for lengthy sentences, whereas the state handles executions (that is, there's no profit in executions for the prison-industrial complex).

Re: A man who was accidentally released from prison 88 years early

#110

Post by fixxer » Tue, Apr 07, 2015, 10:47 PM UTC

waterfowl wrote: post #29

The insanity of the charges/sentencing reminds me of a passage from The Hot House (which is excellent, Pete Earley somehow got permission to go mingle with prisoners at USP Leavenworth for a year and write about it). A Bank Robber, 45 'They originally charged me with murder, kidnapping, and bank robbery, but I'm really just a bank robber with really bad luck. You see, my buddy and me were robbing this bank, and when…

> All I did was rob a bank

I totally understand how somebody might look at that situation and say "gee, he did only rob a bank because the guy who died was his accomplice", but at the same time... he robbed a bank! Had he not robbed it, that life might not have been lost and a body would not have been taken from the scene of a crime.

If you want to argue that the quality of one's lawyer plays a large part in the charges, hell, I agree with you and I think that sucks. But, I'm not about to toss out the legal system because a criminal had a shitty time in court. Fuck this guy.