God knows, I wasn't going to write about Madoff and the fact that he has been sentenced to 150 years in jail. In fact, I was going to return to the pile of absolutely amazing books I plan to be reading and blogging about until the end of summer.
And then I read one more blog post claiming that Madoff's sentence is somehow unfair. This is what Alec Baldwin says at Huffington post: "Madoff got 150 years? Why?
Does that serve the greater good? Does that really contribute to solving the problems that stemmed from Madoff's misdeeds? I want to suggest, as I am confident others have, that Madoff be given a reduced sentence in exchange for answering every question that investigators ask regarding how he did what he did and what are his recommendations for how this might be detected and/or prevented in the future." If it were only Baldwin, I wouldn't care. But I have read over a dozen blogs and articles recently that were saying the exact same thing.
Does that serve the greater good? Does that really contribute to solving the problems that stemmed from Madoff's misdeeds? I want to suggest, as I am confident others have, that Madoff be given a reduced sentence in exchange for answering every question that investigators ask regarding how he did what he did and what are his recommendations for how this might be detected and/or prevented in the future." If it were only Baldwin, I wouldn't care. But I have read over a dozen blogs and articles recently that were saying the exact same thing.
The whole discussion about why we need to put a criminal in jail is baffling in the extreme. Let's try and imagine that the same rhetoric is being disseminated about a serial killer who managed to kidnap and murder 30 people. Would any one suggest that the killer be given a reduced sentence "in exchange for answering every question that investigators ask regarding how he did what he did and what are his recommendations for how this might be detected and/or prevented in the future"? Or is it ok to do this with some crimes and not with others?
I just don't understand why people suddenly feel so much compassion towards this vile crook? He committed a crime, he has been sentenced to jail, let's lock him up and throw away the key instead of feeling sorry for him.
2 comments:
Clarissa, I'm one of those who don't think Madoff should have been sent to prison. My reasons, however, have nothing to do with sympathy or compassion for him (he's a scumbag). It's more along the lines of he's been punished already, he poses no additional financial or physical threat to anyone, so why should we pay for him to sit in prison? I said in a post at my site:
I guess we can all rest better tonight. Madoff’s victims won’t receive much compensation for their losses; however, we can take heart from the fact that we’ll pay his room, board, and other expenses for the rest of his short life. At least he won’t be out on the streets, mugging us, shooting us, or taking our money in fraudulent investment schemes. But wait — that wouldn’t have happened anyway.
I suspect the sentence means very little to Madoff. He’s a ruined, broken old man who is reviled around the world. What more could have been done to him that would have made any difference, for him or for us?
Why do you think he poses no additional financial threat?
Tom, on an unrelated note, I have been trying to leave comments on your site but the browser keeps telling me there is a mistake and closing down on me. This happens mostly with Harvey's posts. Maybe you could tell him? This hasn't happened to me on any other site, so I don't know where the problem lies.
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