# Long prison sentences and insignificant fines: Why?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/long-prison-sentences-and-insignificant-fines-why/747314>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [February 27, 2016, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/long-prison-sentences-and-insignificant-fines-why/747314 "2016-02-27T18:20:39Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Donnerwetter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b2d939/32.png) [@Donnerwetter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Donnerwetter)\
**Post date:** [February 27, 2016, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/long-prison-sentences-and-insignificant-fines-why/747314/1 "2016-02-27T18:20:39Z")

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I was reading the [Wikipedia article about Ronald Pelton](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ronald_Pelton), a former NSA intelligence analyst turned Soviet spy:

> [@](#):
>
> Pelton was tried and convicted of espionage in 1986 and **sentenced to three concurrent life sentences[3] and a $100 fine**.[4]

(bolding mine)

This is something I noticed before when reading about (usually Federal) criminal cases in the US: A defendant is sentenced to serve an extremely harsh prison term in conjunction with a ridiculously low and insignificant fine. Why do they even bother? The court decides to lock up an individual for life (Ronald Pelton actually spent almost 3 decades behind bars), a punishment which is as overwhelming and life-changing as anyone could imagine, but/and at the same time, they order him to fork over some small change? What’s the reasoning behind this?