# Does Michael Cohen deserve to go to prison? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 1, 2018, 8:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-michael-cohen-deserve-to-go-to-prison/825384 "2018-12-01T08:00:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2018, 8:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-michael-cohen-deserve-to-go-to-prison/825384/1 "2018-12-01T08:00:03Z")
[His lawyers say ‘no’](https://apnews.com/972b1bb68b9a4f1cbe1b893275b17264), but that’s what lawyers are for. > [@](#): > > They said prison would be inappropriate given hardships Cohen faces, including loss of his law license, Internal Revenue Service civil penalties and restitution, his likely inclusion as a defendant in a tax case by New York State, the loss of his consulting firm’s business and the cancellation of numerous banking credit card and insurance agreements. :rolleyes: Does potentially losing a job, having fines/restitution to pay, being criminally charged in another case and/or having a family to support ever stop a poor person from being sent to jail? :dubious: While I’m both grateful and impressed by his cooperation, IMO the magnitude of what he enabled deserves jail time. I’m not sure that can be the basis for his sentencing, tho, and I have no idea what potential sentence(s) he could be facing, let alone a solid idea of what I think would be appropriate. I just don’t feel he should avoid prison altogether. ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2018, 8:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-michael-cohen-deserve-to-go-to-prison/825384/2 "2018-12-01T08:33:22Z")
He should get something. While I believe that he is repentant in this one instance and legitimately trying to get things as right as he can for his family and country, I sincerely doubt that, five years from now, he’ll be a living saint that plays everything straight and above-board. He could use to feel where that leads, to rein it in a bit. Plus, simply, you shouldn’t be able to buy your way out of jail entirely. Getting lucky and happening into information about massive criminal conspiracy by the President is still just luck, not reform. For the sake of society, we do want to make a trade, but you should not be able to go free and clear just because of luck. ---
**Author:** ![Ramira](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ramira/32/344_2.png) [@Ramira](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ramira)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2018, 9:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-michael-cohen-deserve-to-go-to-prison/825384/3 "2018-12-01T09:01:17Z")
You do need to encourage good cooperation, no? To make the difference between a Manafort and him. ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2018, 9:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-michael-cohen-deserve-to-go-to-prison/825384/4 "2018-12-01T09:20:55Z")
> [@Ramira](#): > > You do need to encourage good cooperation, no? > To make the difference between a Manafort and him. Manafort will die in jail. His children will not visit him. Cohen might spend a year in jail. He will come back to his children as a hero, and his wife will still have a job to support them while he tries to make a new living. Of course, he’ll leave jail with a book that will have sold a half million copies and which describes how he was abused and taken advantage of by Donald Trump. He’ll leave jail having connections to many people in politics and as someone who managed the RNC pocket book for a time, and possibly knows where some corpses are buried. While there is a non-zero chance that his wife will abandon him for another man, and so that part might not fully pan out, I think the rest is pretty likely to occur. I don’t think he’ll suffer on the other end. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2018, 11:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-michael-cohen-deserve-to-go-to-prison/825384/5 "2018-12-01T11:04:40Z")
Everyone associated with Trump should go to prison. Lock them all up! ---
**Author:** ![naita](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naita/32/5862_2.png) [@naita](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/naita)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2018, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-michael-cohen-deserve-to-go-to-prison/825384/6 "2018-12-01T14:44:13Z")
Yes, he deserves to go to prison. But personally I agree with the system that lets people buy leniency, up to and including no prison, for bringing in bigger fish. ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Lendervedder](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_lendervedder/32/8488_2.png) [@Happy\_Lendervedder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Lendervedder)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2018, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-michael-cohen-deserve-to-go-to-prison/825384/7 "2018-12-01T14:55:54Z")
He simultaneously deserves to go to prison and be memorialized on Mt. Rushmore. ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2018, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-michael-cohen-deserve-to-go-to-prison/825384/8 "2018-12-01T22:14:09Z")
Of course he should go to prison. Ahead of the guy who was nailed for having a few grams of pot. I hate how all the white collar criminals who really destroy civilization get off with small fines and suspended sentences while the small fry get hit by a 3 strikes act and go to jail for life. A friend of mine says that his lawyer brother claims that half of his law school class spent time in prison (mostly for embezzling clients’ money), which maybe contradicts my previous paragraph. But that’s in Toronto. ---
**Author:** ![Inigo\_Montoya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inigo_montoya/32/124_2.png) [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2018, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-michael-cohen-deserve-to-go-to-prison/825384/9 "2018-12-01T22:51:03Z")
> [@Hari\_Seldon](#): > > Of course he should go to prison. Ahead of the guy who was nailed for having a few grams of pot. I hate how all the white collar criminals who really destroy civilization get off with small fines and suspended sentences while the small fry get hit by a 3 strikes act and go to jail for life. This. Not “Pit of Misery” prison, necessarily (as long as he has ultimately been useful in untangling all this Russia nonsense and puts a dagger in Trump’s back), but “No fun of any kind for a couple years” prison. And yeah, Manafort needs to be memorialized on Mt. Rushmore–like, manacled so he looks like a pendant on Washington’s necklace. Maybe we can arrange for a vulture to chew his heart out every day for eternity. I got better plans for Trump. ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2018, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-michael-cohen-deserve-to-go-to-prison/825384/10 "2018-12-01T23:20:23Z")
Worst case scenario he gets a few years in a low security white collar prison. Considering that he has helped Trump commit treason and endless other crimes it isn’t nearly enough punishment. ---
**Author:** ![jasg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f0a364/32.png) [@jasg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jasg)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2018, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-michael-cohen-deserve-to-go-to-prison/825384/11 "2018-12-02T00:34:17Z")
I’d like to see him get hit for minor time for the first plea (campaign finance etc) but a couple of years for lies to Congress - then credit for Mueller cooperation to decrease that. Then hit the others who lied to Comgress with the same but since they didn’t cooperate, they get to do the full time… ---
**Author:** ![El\_Kabong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/el_kabong/32/496_2.png) [@El\_Kabong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Kabong)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2018, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-michael-cohen-deserve-to-go-to-prison/825384/12 "2018-12-02T00:53:44Z")
He should get at least as much time as Martha Stewart did. My opinion: eighteen months, less six months if good behavior. _bangs gavel_ Court is adjourned. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Tooth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c67d28/32.png) [@The\_Tooth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Tooth)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2018, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-michael-cohen-deserve-to-go-to-prison/825384/13 "2018-12-02T01:17:37Z")
> [@Inigo\_Montoya](#): > > This. Not “Pit of Misery” prison, necessarily (as long as he has ultimately been useful in untangling all this Russia nonsense and puts a dagger in Trump’s back), but “No fun of any kind for a couple years” prison. > > And yeah, Manafort needs to be memorialized on Mt. Rushmore–like, manacled so he looks like a pendant on Washington’s necklace. Maybe we can arrange for a vulture to chew his heart out every day for eternity. I got better plans for Trump. Every day an albatross lands on Trump’s head then flies off with his toupee, which regrows every night. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2018, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-michael-cohen-deserve-to-go-to-prison/825384/14 "2018-12-02T19:15:50Z")
[Lawfare has a good article on the quality of lawyering that Michael Cohen is getting](https://www.lawfareblog.com/theres-lot-going-michael-cohens-sentencing-memo) (TL;DR: he has excellent lawyers). ---
**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2018, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-michael-cohen-deserve-to-go-to-prison/825384/15 "2018-12-02T21:13:30Z")
> [@Hari\_Seldon](#): > > A friend of mine says that his lawyer brother claims that half of his law school class spent time in prison (mostly for embezzling clients’ money), which maybe contradicts my previous paragraph. But that’s in Toronto. Colleges like to show their placement rates, but I don’t know if that is the sort of placement that they want to show off.