Slashdot Mirror
Palin's E-Mail Hacker Imprisoned Against Judge's Wishes
Em Adespoton writes "It was a computer security story that made headlines around the world, involving the private emails of a woman who could have become Vice President of the United States. And now, it's ended with a young man sent to a federal prison, hundreds of miles from his family home. David C Kernell, the hacker who broke into Sarah Palin's personal Yahoo email account, is reported to have been sent to jail despite a judge's recommendation that he should not be put behind bars."
Do you have any idea how expensive it is to keep a person in jail?
Locking people up because they are stupid is enough to bankrupt any country. A much better punishment for nonviolent crimes would be community service (scaled to fit the gravity of the offense), where there's a net gain for society.
Oh, there's lots of oil.
My first Journal Entry ever, in 8 years! http://slashdot.org/journal/365947/aphelion-scifi-fantasy-horror-poetry-webzine
I know someone who went to a minimum security prison. I suppose they might not all be alike but if they are sending him to one anything like my friend went to he has a year vacation to spend playing playstation games and/or in a gym occasionally interrupted by a class or two.
Now.. trying to find a good job with a conviction on his record once he gets out... That's the part which will suck for him.
The reality is that the US prison system is formed around the principle of punishment.
And profit. Prisons are sub-contracted to private interests, that are paid in part on a per convict basis. There are documented instances of judges being convicted of taking kickbacks to supply more "product" to the prison industry, i.e. prisoners. There are simply some functions in a civilized society that must be stripped of profit motivation in order to insure justice.
...sometimes, in order to hurt someone very badly, you have to tell that person terrible lies. - PA