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Jun 29, 2009 11:10 pm US/Central
Good Question: Is A Scam As Punishable As Murder?
(WCCO)
When Bernie Madoff was sentenced to 150 years in prison, there were not a lot of tears shed for his sorrows. Madoff was convicted of scamming thousands of people out of billions of dollars. But his sentence is more severe than what most convicted murderers get. How can that be?
"That's a very good question," said Gordon Shumaker, a sitting judge on the Minnesota Court of Appeals and a member of the Minnesota Sentencing Guidelines Commission.
"I won't say its guesswork, but boy it's not science," he said.
In Minnesota the maximum sentence for second-degree intentional murder, like a drive-by-shooting, is 30 years. The maximum sentence for second- and third-degree unintentional murder is just 15 years.
"Understanding that there's not a perfect answer to that. With a murder usually you're talking about the killing of one person," said Shumaker. "Madoff and people of that ilk have significantly damaged many, many people, maybe thousands of people."
In Minnesota, the sentencing guidelines set up 11 categories of felonies. The most severe is intentional second-degree murder; the least severe is selling a simulated controlled substance (like powdered sugar, pretending its cocaine.) Premeditated first-degree murder is a life sentence and it's not on the grid.
"When you look at crimes, you say, 'What does society want?' Do they want people to be in jail for a long time?" explained Shumaker.
Over time, those expectations shift, according to Shumaker, and the guidelines commission adjusts sentencing guidelines along with those societal shifts.
"We don't do this in the abstract. We need to consider the whole idea of what's happening in society with this crime and its severity," he said.
It would be impossible to lock every criminal up forever, Shumaker said, pointing out that judges consider probation to be part of the punishment.
"Should everybody who commits a crime become incarcerated? Think that through. What is incarceration all about? Well it's about punishment and about removal of that person from society," he explained.
But the system isn't perfect, he added. Last week a man with a blood alcohol level four times over the legal limit for driving was sentenced to eight years in prison for running over a woman in a Bloomington parking lot twice, killing her.
"If you're looking for an unassailable logic, I don't think it exists. It's a tough call," said Shumaker.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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