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Ross Ulbricht Sentenced to Life in Prison

nytimes.com

451–460 of 641 posts

Re: Ross Ulbricht Sentenced to Life in Prison

#451

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm very against making examples of people. Justice should be dealt entirely equally. Punishing one person more harshly as a warning to hypothetical criminals with a like mind is an unequal application of justice. I didn't know he had solicited murder (it's not mentioned in the short article linked) so I was wondering what made a glorified drug dealer middleman deserve life in prison. I agree that "without parole" is…

I didn't know he had solicited murder (it's not mentioned in the short article linked) so I was wondering what made a glorified drug dealer middleman deserve life in prison. But the thing is: he wasn't even convicted for that!

He was convicted of the charge to which that allegation was formally attached.

Re: Ross Ulbricht Sentenced to Life in Prison

#453

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's life, not life without parole. He'll get paroled, eventually. People should read some of the background, including haggling over the cost of a murder for hire. - http://www.wired.com/2015/05/silk-road-2/ Truth is, it's hard to run this sort of thing without getting ripped off, and then violence is the only way to discourage people from ripping you off. Watch Godfather movies, esp. part 2... Mafias arise out of h…

Last I heard federal parole isn't a thing.

Hmmh, you could be right and I could be wrong. NYT article didn't say life without parole so I wasn't sure where that came from. But other people are reporting it.

Re: Ross Ulbricht Sentenced to Life in Prison

#454

The dual solicitations of murder put him well off the list of people I will ever have any sympathy for. Having said that, he's 31 and reading "two life sentences" and "no chance of parole," was a little bit of a shock. He didn't actually kill anyone and I would guess some actual murderers have served less time. I can't help but feel this is mostly meant as a warning to any other smart guy who might think about settin…

My understanding is that there is no parole in the federal penal system; parole wasn't an option available to the judge.

It sounds like it wasn't his second choice anyway.

Re: Ross Ulbricht Sentenced to Life in Prison

#455
post #442

Let's just ruin a mans life so maybe we'll deter %.0000001 of a billion dollar drug industry. Why does the United States continue with this nonsense "War on Drugs"? Could it have anything to do with the for profit prison system? Giant militarized police force? Booming civil asset forfeiture? For a country that prides itself on freedom and fairness, why create a system that punishes for doing what they want with their…

SR sold drugs, yes. It also sold identity theft kits, credit card fraud kits, hacking tools, and other gear that is meant to harm others through coercion.

Fuck Russ, and fuck you for repeating the lie that SR was nothing but drugs.

Re: Ross Ulbricht Sentenced to Life in Prison

#457
post #455
post #442

Let's just ruin a mans life so maybe we'll deter %.0000001 of a billion dollar drug industry. Why does the United States continue with this nonsense "War on Drugs"? Could it have anything to do with the for profit prison system? Giant militarized police force? Booming civil asset forfeiture? For a country that prides itself on freedom and fairness, why create a system that punishes for doing what they want with their…

SR sold drugs, yes. It also sold identity theft kits, credit card fraud kits, hacking tools, and other gear that is meant to harm others through coercion. Fuck Russ, and fuck you for repeating the lie that SR was nothing but drugs.

And more importantly, the guy tried to have people killed.

This is not a good prompt for a "war on drugs is evil" rant. I sympathize with the position, but using somebody as an example of supposed injustice, when a big part of his punishment is because he hired hitmen (plural!), is not going to make your point look at all good.

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