Hacker Who Helped Expose Steubenville Could Get More Prison Time Than Rapists
1–10 of 78 posts
Re: Hacker Who Helped Expose Steubenville Could Get More Prison Time Than Rapists
#2An informative read if you're curious about US sentencing: http://www.popehat.com/2013/02/05/crime-whale-sushi-sentence...;
excerpt: "People reporting on federal criminal justice — whether journalists or bloggers — routinely report on the statutory maximum sentence that a defendant could hypothetically get, an oft-ridiculous figure calculated by taking all the charged crimes and adding up the maximum punishment for each. This is usually followed by some sort of pronouncement that THIS PERSON CHARGED OF MINOR CRIMES FACES MORE JAIL TIME THAN YOU'D GET IF YOU BEAT A TODDLER TO DEATH WITH AN UNCONSCIOUS NUN WHILE RAPING A BLIND LIBRARIAN, or words to that effect."
Re: Hacker Who Helped Expose Steubenville Could Get More Prison Time Than Rapists
#3Here's a summary:
A girl in a high school football-obsessed small town went to a party and was assaulted by football players who later bragged about it on Twitter.
A blogger saw the posts (later deleted) and took screenshots. She tried to get justice for the victim by re-posting these on her blog. For this she was hounded relentlessly in the town and a defamation suit was brought against her.
The players bragged that the coach knew about the accusations and would make them go away.
Two of the football players were later given 1 and 2 year sentences in juvenile detention, largely due to the efforts by people who got involved in bringing this case to a wider audience.
As for the hacker...
I've read the linked article, another article, the accused's webpage, and an article by the blogger who stood up for the rape victim, and I still can't figure out exactly what role, if any, this guy had in this mess.
Re: Hacker Who Helped Expose Steubenville Could Get More Prison Time Than Rapists
#4An informative read if you're curious about US sentencing: http://www.popehat.com/2013/02/05/crime-whale-sushi-sentence... ; excerpt: "People reporting on federal criminal justice — whether journalists or bloggers — routinely report on the statutory maximum sentence that a defendant could hypothetically get, an oft-ridiculous figure calculated by taking all the charged crimes and adding up the maximum punishment for…
While that certainly means such stories aren't as serious as they sound, it's still indicative of a pretty messed up sentencing system. Thank you for the link.
Re: Hacker Who Helped Expose Steubenville Could Get More Prison Time Than Rapists
#5An informative read if you're curious about US sentencing: http://www.popehat.com/2013/02/05/crime-whale-sushi-sentence... ; excerpt: "People reporting on federal criminal justice — whether journalists or bloggers — routinely report on the statutory maximum sentence that a defendant could hypothetically get, an oft-ridiculous figure calculated by taking all the charged crimes and adding up the maximum punishment for…
Seems to be a strange thing though in our justice system- that seemingly more minor crimes have greater maximum sentences (and sometimes mandatory minimums) than more violent/harmful crimes.
I know it isn't just something we can 'fix' easily, but it does seem to be a bug in the system essentially.
Re: Hacker Who Helped Expose Steubenville Could Get More Prison Time Than Rapists
#6The original Mother Jones story is here:
http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2013/06/kyanonymous-fbi-...
At first, he thought the FBI agent at the door was with FedEx. "As I open the door to greet the driver, approximately 12 FBI SWAT team agents jumped out of the truck, screaming for me to 'Get the fuck down!' with M-16 assault rifles and full riot gear, armed, safety off, pointed directly at my head," Lostutter wrote today on his blog. "I was handcuffed and detained outside while they cleared my house.
Re: Hacker Who Helped Expose Steubenville Could Get More Prison Time Than Rapists
#7The original Mother Jones story is here: http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2013/06/kyanonymous-fbi-... At first, he thought the FBI agent at the door was with FedEx. "As I open the door to greet the driver, approximately 12 FBI SWAT team agents jumped out of the truck, screaming for me to 'Get the fuck down!' with M-16 assault rifles and full riot gear, armed, safety off, pointed directly at my head," Lostutter wro…
I can understand this approach to a drug baron or armed fugitive, but to a hacker? Really 'merica? Way to go killing that fly with a sledge hammer!
Re: Hacker Who Helped Expose Steubenville Could Get More Prison Time Than Rapists
#8OK, this sounds pedantic, but "Convicted for Longer"* is not accurate...you're not convicted for a period of time, you're convicted and then sentenced to a period of jail time, or probation.
And of course, as we all know from the Aaron Swartz coverage, "could serve for as long as..." is different than "actually serve a sentence of [xy] ears".
But the most relevant quibble is this: a father who beats these rapists with his fists would also face a longer sentence than these accused rapists (who, according to the OP, faced 1-2 years)...because these convicted offenders were juveniles.
And as much as we want to celebrate extra-judicial vengenance upon convicts, juvenile or not, I think we should be aware that there may be unpleasant consequences when our justice/political system looks the other way upon unlawful actions in which "the ends justified the means".
...because, I mean, isn't that at the core of the NSA controversy that is currently raging in the the other 20 HN threads?
* edit: the original title for this submission was "Hacker...Could Be Convicted for Longer..."
Re: Hacker Who Helped Expose Steubenville Could Get More Prison Time Than Rapists
#9I imagine that he faces charges, not specifically for crimes committed to out the rapists, but possibly for a number of other illegal activities related to hacking.
That one of his deeds ended up resulting in outing bad people, does not mean that he is always so conscious or on the side of good.
Re: Hacker Who Helped Expose Steubenville Could Get More Prison Time Than Rapists
#10An informative read if you're curious about US sentencing: http://www.popehat.com/2013/02/05/crime-whale-sushi-sentence... ; excerpt: "People reporting on federal criminal justice — whether journalists or bloggers — routinely report on the statutory maximum sentence that a defendant could hypothetically get, an oft-ridiculous figure calculated by taking all the charged crimes and adding up the maximum punishment for…
It's not just "journalists or bloggers" who do that; the government will often quote the maximum possible when discussing the case as well, in order to intimidate the defendant into a plea bargain.