Fake or not?

[CrONoS]

Fake or Not?

[CrONoS]

Source:

http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/265402

[Velociryx]

...with liberty and justice for all!

-=Vel=-

(don't know if it's true or not, but it wouldn't surprise me)

[Riesstiu IV]

White-collar crimes in general get way too much leniency for the amount of damage they cause, and they usually spend their time in low/medium security prisons, free from getting their deserved anal violations. I remember hearing a news story the other day about a woman sentenced to 2 years of jail-time for throwing a cup of McDonald's coffee at a car that cut her off. That says it all to me. The justice system in this nation is a f**king joke.

[Lefty Scaevola]

Twit, read your own link rather than fooled by headlines. The $100 "theft" was actually a robbery, a crime of violence, for which the amount is irrelevant. The seriousness of the crime is for the use of threat/force/violence against the victims. Gradiations and sentencing in robbery offenses come for the type/level of threat/force/violence used, the amount stolen is irrelevant.

[Ming]

Twit, read your own link rather than fooled by headlines. The $100 "theft" was actually a robbery, a crime of violence, for which the amount is irrelevant. The seriousness of the crime is for the use of threat/force/violence against the victims. Gradiations and sentencing in robbery offenses come for the type/level of threat/force/violence used, the amount stolen is irrelevant.

The story...

Roy Brown, 54, robbed the Capital One bank in Shreveport, Louisiana in December 2007. He approached the teller with one of his hands under his jacket and told her that it was a robbery.
The teller handed Brown three stacks of bill but he only took a single $100 bill and returned the remaining money back to her. He said that he was homeless and hungry and left the bank.
The next day he surrendered to the police voluntarily and told them that his mother didn’t raise him that way.
Brown told the police he needed the money to stay at the detox center and had no other place to stay and was hungry.
In Caddo District Court, he pleaded guilty. The judge sentenced him to 15 years in prison for first degree robbery.

I don't see a lot of violence here... This is a man that needs help, not 15 years in prison.
And I'm sure he felt more remorse than the Executive, who needed the money to support his life style

I hear you Lefty... and who knows, maybe there were some minimal sentencing laws that the judge had to apply... and yes, armed robbery (even if faked) can be a tough situation on the victims... But common sense should be applied as well. Either the DA or Judge should have come up with a better solution.

[Lefty Scaevola]

!5 years is a bit high for a robbery by itself, but news storing on legal matters a notoriously defieceint, commonly leaving out things like 20 page rap sheets of priors.

[Lefty Scaevola]

Like 15 seconds on google finds this:
"Roy Brown has at least 8 prior arrests. These are everything from battery/assualt, DWI, criminal neglect of his family, fugtive status, parole violations and pot possesion. He's no saint And this blogger needs to put this out there it's in the public record. 15 is probably a 3rd or 4th strike at a life he seems to be unable to control. His criminal record has been ongoing since 1988."

[Pekka]

Sure, but does that even to begin to compare white collar crime? The damage this person has caused is fading and very minimal, if we talk about the impact of his crimes. Of course prior acts count, but combining all his crimes, pot possession? Parole violations? Fugitive status? DWI, criminal neglect of his family and battery/assault seem more worthy. Even then, white collar crime getting some few years on their crimes when actually caught and some guy like this with few priors stealing a hundred dollars and then giving himself up voluntarily? Being homeless to begin with, jeesh....

I don't think this act deserves 15 years, even with the priors. He have some of it away during the theft, meaning he might have actually been hungry or something, or that he didn't want to max on his crime, rather just take what he needs. He needs help and not prison.

[Velociryx]

There's simply no comparison.

Guy walks into a bank, TURNS DOWN the stacks of bills offered, taking only what he needs to get into the center and not go hungry...this is the guy we'll hit with fifteen years, vs. the guy who bilks half a billion bucks and gets what amounts to a slap on the wrist.

If that's what passes for "justice" in this country, then the sooner we cease to exist as a nation, the better.

$0.02

-=Vel=-

[Lefty Scaevola]

Its irrelevant that he turned down more money. Robbery is not defined by the amount. Any amount is the same. 1 toothpick or 20 quadrillion dollars is the same. In many jurisdiction, where attempted robbery is the same as robbery, $0 is the same. The degree of the crime is defined only by the treat/force/violence used, not by the amount taken. It is not a property crime, is a crime against the person and dignity of the victims. For over 90% of the robberies committed since criminal law on the subject has been instituted in each jurisdiction, the standard penalty would have been death. It has only been a few centuries in western jurisdictions that it has not been a capital crime. For most people its no question which would do more damage to their dignity and peace: Someone trickely stealing thousands out their investment funds; or someone stopping them in the street and threatening "mess them up" if they did not hand over the $4 bling. I know which one I would cheerfuly blow away with a 9mm.

[Jon Miller]

Look at it this way, in prison he won't be hungry.

Although I agree that we should punish white collar criminals far more than we do.

JM

[Solomwi]

There also seems to be an assumption that Christian Milton, the AIG exec, actually got the 500 million, or some big chunk of it, which doesn't look like is the case, based on about the same amount of Googling Lefty did for Brown.

Besides, Brown was homeless and starving. He's being rewarded with 15 years, not punished.

[Velociryx]

Its irrelevant that he turned down more money. Robbery is not defined by the amount. Any amount is the same. 1 toothpick or 20 quadrillion dollars is the same. In many jurisdiction, where attempted robbery is the same as robbery, $0 is the same. The degree of the crime is defined only by the treat/force/violence used, not by the amount taken. It is not a property crime, is a crime against the person and dignity of the victims. For over 90% of the robberies committed since criminal law on the subject has been instituted in each jurisdiction, the standard penalty would have been death. It has only been a few centuries in western jurisdictions that it has not been a capital crime.

It is also true that judges are within their power to mitigate/adjust sentencing based on the specific conditions surrounding the crime, in which case, the fact that he gave money back would have (should have, IMO) been compelling indeed.

I also find it unlikely (though I am prepared to be proved wrong on this point) that someone who steals a toothpick would be treated in exactly the same manner as a person who steals billions (or quadrillions) of dollars (again, largely for the reasons above).

I therefore stand by my earlier statement, with the understanding that there will be those who disagree.

-=Vel=-

[Velociryx]

In thinking further along these lines...I do not think that the argument "For over 90% of the robberies committed since criminal law on the subject has been instituted in each jurisdiction, the standard penalty would have been death. It has only been a few centuries in western jurisdictions that it has not been a capital crime." Is a particularly good one, and I believe that it is a hallmark of our advancing civilization that we have moved beyond such sentences. We also used to burn accused witches at the stake. That we no longer do so is, IMO, an improvement.

In any case, the two crimes are orders of magnitude apart, as are their respective sentences, but not in any sort of way that lends itself to the view that justice was served. At least not to my eyes.

-=Vel=-