# 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:** 5\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Saintly\_Loser](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saintly_loser/32/4045_2.png) [@Saintly\_Loser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saintly_Loser)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2009, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/madoffs-sentence/500717/81 "2009-07-02T23:53:11Z")
> [@Damuri\_Ajashi](#): > > I am pretty sure that it is a deterrent in at least some cases. I’m pretty sure that the death penalty would be a deterrent to many crimes. For better or worse, those crimes are not those for which we impose death. I do not doubt that Madoff and his ilk would be deterred by the threat of execution. Criminals like Madoff commit their crimes calmly and rationally, and calculate the odds of getting away with their crimes, and weigh those odds against the benefits of their acts. Madoff must have known he would get caught. After all, a Ponzi scheme cannot go on forever. When he was arrested, didn’t he say something indicating that he was surprised it took so long for the authorities to catch up with him? If he knew that certain, or nearly certain, execution would result from his crimes, I doubt very much that he would have started his fraud in the first place. And the same goes for other fraudsters. But we don’t impose the death penalty for fraud. We impose it for crimes committed, for the most part, by people who are usually ignorant, unbalanced, without impulse control, and who act in the heat of the moment, out of uncontrollable emotion. Yes, I know some states impose death for murder-for-hire, but more often death-eligible crimes are horrific acts of senseless violence. The death penalty does not appear to deter this kind of crime. ---
**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:** [July 3, 2009, 7:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/madoffs-sentence/500717/82 "2009-07-03T07:19:24Z")
> [@Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](#): > > Precisely. That’s why life in prison is the ultimate punishment. Even a guy in prison wants to keep living. If life in prison was really a fate worse than death, we would have a lot more suicides among inmates. ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2009, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/madoffs-sentence/500717/83 "2009-07-04T15:52:59Z")
What a concept. Madoff has hired a prison consultant ( did you know such a thing existed), to find his best fit for a jail. Another reminder of how the rich live differently than we do. They actually can decide where they serve. ---
**Author:** ![SpoilerVirgin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4491bb/32.png) [@SpoilerVirgin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpoilerVirgin)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2009, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/madoffs-sentence/500717/84 "2009-07-04T19:33:11Z")
> [@gonzomax](#): > > What a concept. Madoff has hired a prison consultant ( did you know such a thing existed), to find his best fit for a jail. Another reminder of how the rich live differently than we do. They actually can decide where they serve. He can’t decide where he will serve. A judge will decide where he will serve. He can only request the prison that he feels would be the best fit for him. There was quite a bit of outrage when his lawyer requested that he be sentenced to 12 years. Look how well that turned out for him. ---
**Author:** ![Nars\_Glinley](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nars_glinley/32/8177_2.png) [@Nars\_Glinley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nars_Glinley)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2009, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/madoffs-sentence/500717/85 "2009-07-04T22:12:42Z")
> [@SpoilerVirgin](#): > > He can’t decide where he will serve. A judge will decide where he will serve. He can only request the prison that he feels would be the best fit for him. There was quite a bit of outrage when his lawyer requested that he be sentenced to 12 years. Look how well that turned out for him. Actually, the Bureau of Prisons will make the final decision although the judge will make a recommendation. Madoff requested [FCI Otisville](http://www.bop.gov/locations/institutions/otv/index.jsp) which is a medium security facility. Apparently, he is ineligible for minimum security or no doubt he would have requested it. > [@](#): > > The Bureau of Prisons hasn’t decided where Madoff will be jailed, said spokeswoman Felicia Ponce. Madoff’s 150-year term, the seriousness of his crimes and the judge’s recommendation that he be jailed in the northeast will be factors in the decision. Madoff asked to do his time in Otisville, New York, a medium-security lockup 70 miles northwest of Manhattan. > > Madoff won’t wind up in the minimum-security camp that’s next to the tougher prison. Inmates serving more than 10 years aren’t eligible for the unfenced and un-walled camps, Ponce said. From [here.](http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=apzmc9N7mJkA) Poor baby. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/madoffs-sentence/500717.md?page=4)