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Plaxico is willing to go to jail for a year, DA wants him in for 2


SKOOBY

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NYC has mandatory sentences for carrying concealed unregistered firearms in public. And it's longer than a year. NYC has harsh penalties for such things, and for good reason.

 

as for the the disparate sentencing - it's not the judicial system, it's legislatures that pass the laws. Too many rich, powerful people regularly drink and drive for there to be the political will to ramp up sentencing for such crimes (and I'm not talking about the Dante Stallworth's of the world).

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The back story is that Morgenthau is finally retiring and wants to hand pick his successor. But DA is an elected position and the opposition has been scoring points with NYC voters by highlighting that Morgenthau has a history of going light on celebs, using Plax as an example. Not that he doesn't deserve the jail time (he'd already be there for 3+ years if he pumped gas for a living), but Plax's timing couldn't have been worse.

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NYC has mandatory sentences for carrying concealed unregistered firearms in public. And it's longer than a year. NYC has harsh penalties for such things, and for good reason.

 

as for the the disparate sentencing - it's not the judicial system, it's legislatures that pass the laws. Too many rich, powerful people regularly drink and drive for there to be the political will to ramp up sentencing for such crimes (and I'm not talking about the Dante Stallworth's of the world).

 

Well then who are you talking about? Who are these "rich, powerful people"? Name some. Or one.

 

Are you suggesting there is a pro DUI lobby?

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Well then who are you talking about? Who are these "rich, powerful people"? Name some. Or one.

 

Are you suggesting there is a pro DUI lobby?

 

I'm talking businessmen, lawyers, politicians - a great number of them go out to nice restaurants and fancy bars and drive home buzzed on a pretty routine basis. If someone steps in front of their car one night, they don't want to send that guy to jail for a year when he's an "upstanding and important member of the community."

 

I'm not talking specific people, but state legislatures don't like to put their buddies and donors behind bars. No lobbying is necessary.

 

think of the 30 year sentencing discrepancy between crack and cocaine. There wasn't a cocaine lobby behind the difference, but there was a huge difference (often it was probation vs. large mandatory sentences).

What was the difference? The people that used. Politicians don't want to put their donors or their donor's kids behind bars for very long.

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He fired a gun in a crowded dance club. The consequence of his action (he shot himself) was minimal. The possible consequences (someone else gets show) are serious. Go to jail.

 

As to the disparity between sentencing for gun crimes and DUIs, I agree that the disparity shouldn't exist. But the way to correct it is not to lower the penalty for firing a gun in a crowded place.

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He fired a gun in a crowded dance club. The consequence of his action (he shot himself) was minimal. The possible consequences (someone else gets show) are serious. Go to jail.

 

As to the disparity between sentencing for gun crimes and DUIs, I agree that the disparity shouldn't exist. But the way to correct it is not to lower the penalty for firing a gun in a crowded place.

 

truth be told....

 

shooting a gun in a nightclub -- majority of times it is a black crime.

 

drinking and driving -- majority of times it is a white crime.

 

hence different penalties.

 

doing crack -- black crime.

 

doing coke -- white crime.

 

different penalties.

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truth be told....

 

shooting a gun in a nightclub -- majority of times it is a black crime.

 

drinking and driving -- majority of times it is a white crime.

 

hence different penalties.

 

doing crack -- black crime.

 

doing coke -- white crime.

 

different penalties.

 

even more than the race part is the money part, imo. rich people (who get politicians elected) drink and drive, but generally don't carry concealed unlicensed firearms into night clubs. However the crimes are significantly different, if Plaxico had accidentally shot and killed someone it would be a closer analogy. The best example is definitely the coke/crack one - rich people do coke, poor people do crack. And most poor people that do crack are poor black people.

 

the disparate impact on race though is severe because such a high percentage of African Americans are poorer, which makes it pretty suspect. Further, it makes economic progress that much harder when youthful crimes of poverty land a person in jail for large chunks of their productive life (While crimes of the rich youth get them probation). It not only affects the convicted, but their family. It's a vicious cycle and dumb politics made it a lot worse over the past 30 years.

 

Politics is how we have more people imprisoned then any other country on earth. Thankfully a lot of progress has been made in the last few years to eliminate some of the ridiculous sentencing disparities - Rockefeller drug laws most notably. Also Jim Webb's courageous efforts to try and address our incarceration problem is admirable and should get more praise and attention than it has. But politics is so small and petty...

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