Some perspective on SBF's 25 years.
Under the Feds, you have to serve ~85% before you're eligible for early release. That's ~21 years.
That's a lot longer than ppl convicted of murder and sentenced to life have to wait for parole eligibility in many parts of Europe.
In the Netherland, ~99% of all sentences are for under four years. Twenty-five years--well below what the DOJ wanted--would be a staggering sentence.
In W. Germany (in 2009, at least), 92% of sentences are under 2 years, barely 1% hit 15.
If SBF's sentence somehow seems "short," it's only because we use long sentences to an extent other countries simply don't.
This CCJ graph on %-of-ppl sentenced* to 10+ yrs comparing US states to foreign countries is striking. No country comes close to us.
* Important caveat here: the CCJ graph is percent *sentenced* to 10+, not percent who *serve* 10+. Many states have parole processes that are far less stingy than the Feds'. The Feds are unique, even within the US, for long-sentences-for-everything + really-stingy-release.
Anyway, if anyone posts anything like "SBF only got 25, which is too close to [X] getting [Y] for [less serious crime]," the takeaway should be that X got punished TOO MUCH, not that SBF got punished TOO LITTLE.
Our sense of perspective is absolutely mangled in this country.
Our prison system and sentencing are broken. However within the current system, SBF got off extremely light. He could have got 100 years, prosecutors asked for 50. I don't believe he is going to be the breakthrough where suddenly sentencing becomes more reasonable for everyone. He got off light.
Yes, American prison sentences are way too long.
-and-
Federal judges have too much discretion when sentencing. For example, as with SBF, white collar criminals--especially well-connected/well-off white ones--seem to get *relatively* lenient sentences compared to the guideline recommendations.
Almost none.
Median time to release for drugs crime is abt 1.5 yrs, up from ~1 in the early 1990s.
It’s mostly driven by violence, homicide in particular.
This is true, but its also true that white collar crime leniency didn’t start with SBF, and criminal law sentencing reform doesn’t need to start with SBF.
US incarceration growth starts around 1972; prior to that, our incarceration rates were slightly higher than those in Europe and Canada, but comparable.
But not sure about sentence length--we always had long sentences, but also had really aggressive parole/releases. Then the parole part stopped.
