Bill is right that In America defendants are essentially blackmailed into waiving any trial at all, including a bench trial, and pleading guilty, first because of disproportionate sentences, and secondmbecause you get, in a system like the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, which almost 40 states have, a credit for acceptance of responsibility, or conversely, a penalty for holding the state to its standard of proof and insisting on your right to a trial, that can mean several less or more years in jail. The Supreme Court has found both of these practices to be constitutional.
I agree that American sentencing is grossly excessive. just to take one example, with the passage of Sarbanes Oxley in I think (I should know this) 2004, the penalty for Mail Fraud, when had been 5 years since 1872, was jacked up to 20 years, or 30 if it involves a financial institution --almost anything is a financial institution.
Sent from my iPad
On Oct 16, 2012, at 5:13 PM, Bill Bartlett <billbartlett at aapt.net.au> wrote:
> Maybe this is an example of the chickens are coming home to roost?
>
> http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-10-17/uk-hacker-wins-fight-against-extradition/4317168
>
> reading the story, it seems this hacker faced 60 years imprisonment if he was tried and sentenced in the us courts. A classic example of how the US system blackmails people into pleading guilty, by threatening them with barbaric penalties that are out of proportion to the crime, unless they agree to give up their "right" to a trial.
>
> The British government seems to be saying that this amounts to torture, and they are absolutely right. I think it is routine to use such torture to get people to plead guilty. So routine that Americans don't even notice it.
>
> Accouring to the news article, the Brits are planning to change the law so their judges can bar extradition where it is possible to try people in Britain instead.
>
> Bill Bartlett
> Bracknell Tas
>
> At 2:17 AM -0700 10/10/12, Ismail Lagardien wrote:
>
>> Not sure if anyone has read this - just sharing.
>
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