# Madoff's Sentence **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [June 23, 2009, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/madoffs-sentence/500717 "2009-06-23T14:43:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e480ec/32.png) [@Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Least_Original_User_Name_Ever)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2009, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/madoffs-sentence/500717/41 "2009-06-27T00:00:02Z")
> [@pravnik](#): > > Hey, come on! It was his first offense! Heh. That’s funny. I assume that, beside this, he’s got a pretty clean record, and that the defense would argue for leniency based on that fact. ---
**Author:** ![begbert2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/begbert2/32/3357_2.png) [@begbert2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/begbert2)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2009, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/madoffs-sentence/500717/42 "2009-06-27T00:00:33Z")
> [@Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](#): > > Death is a stupid punishment and not a deterrent in the first place. I’d say that life in prison without parole is more than reasonable. Death isn’t a deterrent? ---
**Author:** ![Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e480ec/32.png) [@Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Least_Original_User_Name_Ever)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2009, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/madoffs-sentence/500717/43 "2009-06-27T00:17:06Z")
> [@begbert2](#): > > Death isn’t a deterrent? Nope. ---
**Author:** ![Eugene\_of\_Sandwich](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/c37758/32.png) [@Eugene\_of\_Sandwich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eugene_of_Sandwich)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2009, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/madoffs-sentence/500717/44 "2009-06-27T00:34:26Z")
The current president and at least half the congress need a 20 year sentence to put things in perspective for these worthless pieces of crap. ---
**Author:** ![Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e480ec/32.png) [@Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Least_Original_User_Name_Ever)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2009, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/madoffs-sentence/500717/45 "2009-06-27T00:38:33Z")
> [@Eugene\_of\_Sandwich](#): > > The current president and at least half the congress need a 20 year sentence to put things in perspective for these worthless pieces of crap. I’m confused. I think you’re saying that the president and half of Congress should be jailed (I can guess which half), but you’re so brazen about it that it seems sarcastic. ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2009, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/madoffs-sentence/500717/46 "2009-06-27T03:03:39Z")
They usually go to club Fed. They do not have the same prison experience that poor people do. The rich live in a different world. They play tennis in prison .They probably feel deprived because they can not play golf in jail. ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2009, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/madoffs-sentence/500717/47 "2009-06-27T03:09:48Z")
[Best Places To Go To Prison](http://www.forbes.com/2006/04/17/best-prisons-federal_cx_lr_06slate_0418bestprisons.html) Here is a list of Fed prisons including special amenities. They include tennis, bocce, full weight rooms, etc. ---
**Author:** ![Try2B\_Comprehensive](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/try2b_comprehensive/32/65_2.png) [@Try2B\_Comprehensive](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Try2B_Comprehensive)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2009, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/madoffs-sentence/500717/48 "2009-06-27T03:24:41Z")
> [@Lemur866](#): > > we deserve to live in a country where no one has the right to rape that person. I agree. ---
**Author:** ![Try2B\_Comprehensive](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/try2b_comprehensive/32/65_2.png) [@Try2B\_Comprehensive](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Try2B_Comprehensive)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2009, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/madoffs-sentence/500717/49 "2009-06-27T03:30:07Z")
> [@gonzomax](#): > > [Best Places To Go To Prison](http://www.forbes.com/2006/04/17/best-prisons-federal_cx_lr_06slate_0418bestprisons.html) Here is a list of Fed prisons including special amenities. They include tennis, bocce, full weight rooms, etc. Still, who heard of a prison without a weight room? ---
**Author:** ![Baal\_Houtham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baal_houtham/32/13604_2.png) [@Baal\_Houtham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baal_Houtham)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2009, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/madoffs-sentence/500717/50 "2009-06-27T14:46:57Z")
> [@Angry Lurker](#): > > I could commit investment fraud if I wanted to, and probably get away with it too. The reason I don’t is because it’s self evidendly immoral. > > I agree with villa that, beyond a certain point, the magnitude of the sentence will have any no deterrent value whatsoever. I’d say that point is about 55 years. For me that’s when it reaches equivalency with dying in jail. If I think of 20 years, it’s a length of time to serve and my mental image is of an older me finishing it and exiting prison. Maybe in only 12 or 15 years. And also on a personal level, Madoff shouldn’t leave prison while any of the people (and charities) he stole from are still impoverished by his greed. To do so would be, as you say, “self-evidently immoral.” ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2009, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/madoffs-sentence/500717/51 "2009-06-27T21:13:28Z")
> **[Madoff's Wife Cedes Asset Claim - WSJ](https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB124612092335264949)** > > Swindler Husband Plays Fate Like His Fraud Ahead of Monday's Sentencing Why should she be left with millions of ill gotten money? She and the rest of the family were in on the fraud. Madoff was loaning and giving the money away as fast as he could when he saw they were on to him. I am sure they have it stashed off shore too. They have been stealing for decades. ---
**Author:** ![muldoonthief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muldoonthief/32/3188_2.png) [@muldoonthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muldoonthief)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2009, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/madoffs-sentence/500717/52 "2009-06-29T16:05:09Z")
CNN is now [reporting](http://money.cnn.com/2009/06/29/news/economy/madoff_prison_sentence/index.htm?postversion=2009062909) that he’s been sentenced to 150 years. Hopefully they’ll put his rotting corpse on display outside Wall St. as an object lesson for future traders. ---
**Author:** ![joebuck20](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/74df32/32.png) [@joebuck20](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joebuck20)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2009, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/madoffs-sentence/500717/53 "2009-06-29T16:24:59Z")
Well, hopefully when he drops the soap in the prison shower he’ll have the same thing done to him that he did to his investors. ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2009, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/madoffs-sentence/500717/54 "2009-06-29T16:35:00Z")
> [@joebuck20](#): > > Well, hopefully when he drops the soap in the prison shower he’ll have the same thing done to him that he did to his investors. Nah…he gets to go to Club Fed. Still prison but hardly the hell he deserves. I cannot see how the judge could give anything less than the maximum. Madoff is the new record holder for colossal ripoffs. How can you not give the max sentence to the guy who holds that dubious distinction? Given his age 12 years would have been a life sentence likely. Still, guess the message counts here. ---
**Author:** ![Doug\_Bowe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/df788c/32.png) [@Doug\_Bowe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doug_Bowe)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2009, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/madoffs-sentence/500717/55 "2009-06-29T16:50:23Z")
Maximum sentence for several reason. For starters, Madoff was anything but cooperative. No way he could have pulled this off alone. Others are under investigation, of course. The one person who could have provided the best information remained silent. This case is not over. ---
**Author:** ![Darryl\_Lict](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7cd45c/32.png) [@Darryl\_Lict](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darryl_Lict)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2009, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/madoffs-sentence/500717/56 "2009-06-29T16:53:02Z")
> [@Whack-a-Mole](#): > > Nah…he gets to go to Club Fed. Still prison but hardly the hell he deserves. > > I cannot see how the judge could give anything less than the maximum. Madoff is the new record holder for colossal ripoffs. How can you not give the max sentence to the guy who holds that dubious distinction? > > Given his age 12 years would have been a life sentence likely. Still, guess the message counts here. I can’t find the cite, but I read somewhere that a sentence longer than 20 years guarantees that you spend your time in a high security prison. No Club Fed for that steaming pile of shit. ---
**Author:** ![Burton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Burton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Burton)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2009, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/madoffs-sentence/500717/57 "2009-06-29T17:06:42Z")
If that’s so that’s another way to weight to financial crime sentences. ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2009, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/madoffs-sentence/500717/58 "2009-06-29T17:32:34Z")
> [@Whack-a-Mole](#): > > I cannot see how the judge could give anything less than the maximum. Madoff is the new record holder for colossal ripoffs. How can you not give the max sentence to the guy who holds that dubious distinction? > > . Bingo. Thats EXACTLY WHAT maximum sentences are for. When some schmoo goes above and beyond in the criminal department. If he did not, I dont know who did! ---
**Author:** ![Damuri\_Ajashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/898d66/32.png) [@Damuri\_Ajashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Damuri_Ajashi)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2009, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/madoffs-sentence/500717/59 "2009-06-29T17:42:30Z")
> [@Lemur866](#): > > We don’t sentence people to be raped in this country. Or beaten by other prisoners. > > If any prisoner is in danger from other prisoners, they should be segregated and moved to somewhere where they are safe. Rape isn’t funny, and no one deserves to be raped, no matte how much they stole. Or to put it another way, we all deserve to live in a country where rape isn’t laughed about and winked at. Even if someone does deserve to be raped, we deserve to live in a country where no one has the right to rape that person. Yeah yeah whatever, its not like anyone’s going to stand up and defend prison rape but someone made a comment about hard labor as if prison wasn’t bad enough. My comment about girlfriend or punching bag was that prison is bad enough that adding hard labor doesn’t really make enough of a difference in my book to make it any more of a deterrent. ---
**Author:** ![Damuri\_Ajashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/898d66/32.png) [@Damuri\_Ajashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Damuri_Ajashi)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2009, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/madoffs-sentence/500717/60 "2009-06-29T17:44:21Z")
[QUOTE=Least Original Death is a stupid punishment and not a deterrent in the first place. I’d say that life in prison without parole is more than reasonable.[/QUOTE] What makes death a stupid punishment? I am pretty sure that it is a deterrent in at least some cases. Is the death penalty stupid because you don’t agree with it? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/madoffs-sentence/500717.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/madoffs-sentence/500717.md?page=4)