# Has anyone ever been too smart to put in jail **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 20, 2014, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-ever-been-too-smart-to-put-in-jail/684135 "2014-03-20T03:00:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**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:** [March 20, 2014, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-ever-been-too-smart-to-put-in-jail/684135/1 "2014-03-20T03:00:07Z")
Not so much that they could escape from any jail, but have there ever been people who were considered so innovative that putting them in jail would be considered a waste of human potential, even if they broke the law? With the wall street crimes, the attorney general said arresting and charging wall street criminals would destabilize the economy, so he didn’t want to prosecute charges against them. I don’t agree with it, but he was saying the rule of law doesn’t apply to people who are too important in the financial industry. Lets say in a situation like the manhattan project, what if one of the most innovative nuclear scientists had decided to start committing armed robberies. Wouldn’t authorities look at how innovative that person is and decide it would be better to not charge them and send them to jail? Has anything like that ever happened? Someone was too innovative, creative and brilliant to be allowed to be put in jail to rot. I could see it happening in a time of war for someone working on a secret weapons project or an extremely talented general, but I don’t know if it would happen outside of that. ---
**Author:** ![mascaroni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/dc4da7/32.png) [@mascaroni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mascaroni)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2014, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-ever-been-too-smart-to-put-in-jail/684135/2 "2014-03-20T03:32:15Z")
[Johnny Ramensky](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johnny_Ramensky) was a safe breaker who made a good reputation for himself during WW2. He went back to his old ways though, and spent a good deal of his post war life in gaol. Alan Turing was never gaoled, but the threat of it was likely to have driven him to suicide. A brilliant man, who not only was behind the solving of the German Enigma machines, but also a leading figure in computer technology, hounded to death because of his sexuality. ---
**Author:** ![chacoguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/50afbb/32.png) [@chacoguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chacoguy)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2014, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-ever-been-too-smart-to-put-in-jail/684135/3 "2014-03-20T03:52:49Z")
Lots of Nazi scientists. ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2014, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-ever-been-too-smart-to-put-in-jail/684135/4 "2014-03-20T03:53:29Z")
George W. Bush? He was arrested three different times which, had they all been in California, might have qualified him for life without parole. ---
**Author:** ![chacoguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/50afbb/32.png) [@chacoguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chacoguy)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2014, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-ever-been-too-smart-to-put-in-jail/684135/5 "2014-03-20T04:10:41Z")
That wasn’t because he was so smart, it was because of his connections. ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2014, 4:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-ever-been-too-smart-to-put-in-jail/684135/6 "2014-03-20T04:49:38Z")
> [@mascaroni](#): > > Alan Turing was never gaoled, but the threat of it was likely to have driven him to suicide. A brilliant man, who not only was behind the solving of the German Enigma machines, but also a leading figure in computer technology, hounded to death because of his sexuality. And rightly so. Not jailed I mean. IIRC, the treatments that he underwent were an attempt by the powers that be to _save_ him from jail. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2014, 5:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-ever-been-too-smart-to-put-in-jail/684135/7 "2014-03-20T05:00:17Z")
> [@chacoguy](#): > > Lots of Nazi scientists. I’d say this is a good example. A lot of these scientists committed acts which could have gotten them prosecuted as war criminals. But the winning governments decided they’d rather put the scientists to work. ---
**Author:** ![MeanOldLady](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/meanoldlady/32/10737_2.png) [@MeanOldLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MeanOldLady)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2014, 5:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-ever-been-too-smart-to-put-in-jail/684135/8 "2014-03-20T05:11:45Z")
> [@jtur88](#): > > George W. Bush? He was arrested three different times which, had they all been in California, might have qualified him for life without parole. I don’t know if you’re being serious or not, but you can’t be imprisoned for life in California for having been arrested three times. That’s not how the Three Strikes Law works. Originally it imprisoned anyone with a third conviction, no matter how frivolous the third conviction, if there were at least two serious priors. It was later amended that the third strike needed to be serious or violent. ---
**Author:** ![mascaroni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/dc4da7/32.png) [@mascaroni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mascaroni)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2014, 5:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-ever-been-too-smart-to-put-in-jail/684135/9 "2014-03-20T05:11:48Z")
> [@AK84](#): > > And rightly so. Not jailed I mean. > IIRC, the treatments that he underwent were an attempt by the powers that be to _save_ him from jail. I accept that… they were different times, but I still think he was very poorly treated. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2014, 5:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-ever-been-too-smart-to-put-in-jail/684135/10 "2014-03-20T05:26:13Z")
What were _any_ of GWBush’s arrests for, that would have qualified as one of the Three Strikes (even under the prior version of the law)? And doesn’t Texas also have a Three Strikes (or Two Strikes?) law? I don’t know what GWB’s arrests were for, but I’ve got the impression that one (or more?) of them was for DUI? If so, is that considered a Strike under California’s Three Strikes law? What were his other arrests for? DUI also? Were _any_ of his arrests for such crimes as could have put him away for any length of time? I am certain it wasn’t his brilliant intellect that kept him out of jail. Alan Turing he wasn’t. I don’t know of any significant intellectual contributions he made to society. I agree with the above remark, that it was his connections. ---
**Author:** ![Iggy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iggy/32/3364_2.png) [@Iggy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Iggy)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2014, 5:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-ever-been-too-smart-to-put-in-jail/684135/11 "2014-03-20T05:35:10Z")
I thought it was just a Hollywood meme, but perhaps not… Hackers being offered probation and a law enforcement job instead of jail. Seems [Uncle Sam needs their talents](https://americanfreepress.net/?p=4863) for cyber security. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2014, 5:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-ever-been-too-smart-to-put-in-jail/684135/12 "2014-03-20T05:38:22Z")
> [@mascaroni](#): > > I accept that… they were different times, but I still think he was very poorly treated. Certainly true. It’s also worth noting that Turing could have avoided his fate. Friends told him that he should call in some favors he was owed for his wartime service and have government officials intercede on his behalf. But Turing refused as a matter of principle, feeling that he shouldn’t get any special treatment that wouldn’t be available to other homosexuals. ---
**Author:** ![Bullitt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bullitt/32/5725_2.png) [@Bullitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bullitt)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2014, 5:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-ever-been-too-smart-to-put-in-jail/684135/13 "2014-03-20T05:40:24Z")
OJ Simpson? It took a while before he ended up behind bars, in beautiful Lovelock, NV. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2014, 5:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-ever-been-too-smart-to-put-in-jail/684135/14 "2014-03-20T05:56:17Z")
> [@Bullitt](#): > > OJ Simpson? > > It took a while before he ended up behind bars, in beautiful Lovelock, NV. I don’t know what “smarts” OJ had that would answer the OP’s question, or even what value he had to society as an athlete, given that he was already pretty much a has-been by then. The reason he got off is either because the prosecution wasn’t able to pull together much of a case, even after nine months of trial, and/or because they made such a total clusterfuck of it. Mainly the latter. To be sure, OJ’s wealth bought him a lot of “justice” too. ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2014, 6:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-ever-been-too-smart-to-put-in-jail/684135/15 "2014-03-20T06:29:35Z")
> [@Wesley\_Clark](#): > > Not so much that they could escape from any jail, but have there ever been people who were considered so innovative that putting them in jail would be considered a waste of human potential, even if they broke the law? > > With the wall street crimes, the attorney general said arresting and charging wall street criminals would destabilize the economy, so he didn’t want to prosecute charges against them. I don’t agree with it, but he was saying the rule of law doesn’t apply to people who are too important in the financial industry. I am not a huge fan of Mr. Holder, but that’s not what he said. He said that prosecuting the corporations presented that problem, but not the PEOPLE: Cite: > [@](#): > > Now, if we could just put that aside for a minute, though, the concern that you have raised is one that I frankly share. And I’m not talking about HSBC now, because that may not be appropriate. But I am concerned that the size of some of these institutions becomes so large that it does become difficult for us to prosecute them when we are hit with indications that if you do prosecute, if you do bring a criminal charge, it will have a negative impact on the national economy, perhaps even the world economy. And I think that is a function of the fact that some of these institutions have become too large. > . > . > . > SEN. GRASSLEY: If you constitutionally jail a CEO of a major corporation, you’re going to send a pretty wide signal to stop a lot of activity that people think they can get away with. > > ATTY GEN. HOLDER: No, and you’re absolutely right, Senator. You know, the greatest deterrent effect is not by the prosecution of a corporation, although that’s important. The greatest deterrent effect is to prosecute the individuals in the corporation who are responsible for those decisions. We’ve done that in the UBS matter that we brought, and we try to do that whenever we can. But the point that you make is a good one. Moreover, a later clarifying comment from Mr. Holder claimed that even his demur about companies was misunderstood. No idea how much credence you wish to give to that claim. ---
**Author:** ![Bullitt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bullitt/32/5725_2.png) [@Bullitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bullitt)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2014, 6:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-ever-been-too-smart-to-put-in-jail/684135/16 "2014-03-20T06:30:02Z")
> [@Senegoid](#): > > I don’t know what “smarts” OJ had that would answer the OP’s question, or even what value he had to society as an athlete, given that he was already pretty much a has-been by then. > > The reason he got off is either because the prosecution wasn’t able to pull together much of a case, even after nine months of trial, and/or because they made such a total clusterfuck of it. Mainly the latter. To be sure, OJ’s wealth bought him a lot of “justice” too. That was an answer to the thread title. The Simpson situation shows it’s not whether you committed the crime, but also how good a lawyer team you can buy. Just as you said. He did have societal value because of his fairly recent accomplishments on the field, but that did not come into play in determining the verdict. ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2014, 1:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-ever-been-too-smart-to-put-in-jail/684135/17 "2014-03-20T13:35:38Z")
[Frank Abignale](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Abignale#Capture_and_imprisonment) - inspiration for the hollywood movie [“Catch Me If You Can”](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catch_Me_If_You_Can) - was released early from prison on the condition that he help federal authorities investigate fraud cases. ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2014, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-ever-been-too-smart-to-put-in-jail/684135/18 "2014-03-20T14:01:54Z")
[Feynman’s hobby during the Manhattan Project was safe-cracking.](http://www.openculture.com/2013/04/learn_how_richard_feynman_cracked_the_safes_with_atomic_secrets_at_los_alamos.html) Nobody prosecuted him for it, and I doubt that he would have been jailed. And he was pretty definitely smart. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2014, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-ever-been-too-smart-to-put-in-jail/684135/19 "2014-03-20T14:03:14Z")
Enron’s executives were famously termed “The Smartest Guys In The Room,” and they went to prison. ---
**Author:** ![kopek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kopek/32/337_2.png) [@kopek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kopek)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2014, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-ever-been-too-smart-to-put-in-jail/684135/20 "2014-03-20T14:45:05Z")
Major Robert Rogers, founder of Rogers Rangers in the French and Indian War. From Wiki: “The war broke out in the midst of Robert Rogers’ counterfeiting trial. The colonial government decided it needed experienced frontiersmen more than it needed to punish counterfeiters; hence, the charges against Rogers were dismissed” [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-ever-been-too-smart-to-put-in-jail/684135.md?page=2)