# Manning's sentence **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 22, 2013, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mannings-sentence/666878 "2013-08-22T15:24:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Mr.Kobayashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4af34b/32.png) [@Mr.Kobayashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Kobayashi)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2013, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mannings-sentence/666878/1 "2013-08-22T15:24:54Z")
You may be aware that former US soldier Bradley (or Chelsea) Manning has been sentenced to 35 years in prison for violations of the Espionage Act; namely the biggest leak of classified documents in US intelligence. Like Snowden (s)he’s a polarising figure, although unlike Snowden (s)he was caught and sentenced. Some say (s)he’s an American hero for exposing illegal activity and war crimes; others say (s)he is a traitor for putting people at risk and betraying his/her job. By way of comparison Anders Breivik shot dead 77 innocent people and was sentenced to 21 years in jail. Do you think the sentence was fair, lenient or too harsh? If you were the military judge what would you sentence him too? ---
**Author:** ![Labrador\_Deceiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7c8e57/32.png) [@Labrador\_Deceiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labrador_Deceiver)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2013, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mannings-sentence/666878/2 "2013-08-22T15:31:39Z")
Will he serve all 35 years? ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Kobayashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4af34b/32.png) [@Mr.Kobayashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Kobayashi)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2013, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mannings-sentence/666878/3 "2013-08-22T15:36:51Z")
> [@Labrador\_Deceiver](#): > > Will he serve all 35 years? Earliest parole seems to be in about 8 years > [@](#): > > He will most likely serve out his sentence in the United States Disciplinary Barracks at Fort Leavenworth in Kansas. The 1,182 days he has spent in confinement since he was arrested in May 2010 will be applied toward his term. Added to the military’s extensive credits for good behavior, Manning could be eligible for parole in about 8 years, when he is 33. > **[Bradley Manning Sentenced To 35 Years In Prison For WikiLeaks Disclosures](https://www.huffpost.com/entry/bradley-manning-sentenced_n_3787492)** > > Bradley Manning Sentenced To 35 Years In Prison For WikiLeaks Disclosures ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2013, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mannings-sentence/666878/4 "2013-08-22T15:41:29Z")
People have been executed for less than this. He deserves a firing squad. ---
**Author:** ![Ravenman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ravenman/32/2929_2.png) [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2013, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mannings-sentence/666878/5 "2013-08-22T15:51:23Z")
I think 35 years is in the ballpark of what is justified, but I believe that time (or a large percentage of it) should be actually served. It would be a joke if Manning only served eight years. And it’s totally unfair to raise Anders Breivik, because he was prosecuted under another country’s laws, plus the reference to 21 years is totally deceptive in that nobody actually believes that he will serve 21 years. It’s widely acknowledged that the term of his confinement is the maximum afforded under law, and that the sentence is subject to perpetual extension, which everyone believes will happen. Breivik will leave the Norwegian prison as a dead man. ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2013, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mannings-sentence/666878/6 "2013-08-22T15:52:09Z")
People who tortured POWs didn’t get anything near this harsh of a sentence. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2013, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mannings-sentence/666878/7 "2013-08-22T16:00:41Z")
Too light, given parole. If he was to serve 35 years, I’d say it was about right. Whatever other people may have served for unrelated offenses isn’t really relevant unless you wanted a conversation about whether or not their sentence fit their own crimes. ---
**Author:** ![DiosaBellissima](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a8b319/32.png) [@DiosaBellissima](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DiosaBellissima)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2013, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mannings-sentence/666878/8 "2013-08-22T16:39:23Z")
I actually don’t pretend to know enough about the specifics of the case to speak directly on the sentence, but I will point out that today, [Bradley/Chelsea Manning publicly requested to be referred to with feminine pronouns.](http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-bradley-manning-woman-20130822,0,4128824.story) > [@](#): > > “As I transition into this next phase of my life, I want everyone to know the real me. I am Chelsea Manning, I am a female,” Manning, 25, said in the statement read by anchorwoman Savannah Guthrie on NBC News’ “Today” show. > > “Given the way that I feel and have felt since childhood, I want to begin hormone therapy as soon as possible,” Manning said. “I also request that starting today you refer to me by my new name and use the feminine pronoun.” ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2013, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mannings-sentence/666878/9 "2013-08-22T16:41:30Z")
Twenty years at hard labor sounds about right to me, but I am talking about time served, not a sentence. But I don’t think it beyond the realm of possibility that he will commit suicide, either in prison or upon release. Bitches be crazy, as Sheldon Cooper teaches us. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2013, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mannings-sentence/666878/10 "2013-08-22T16:45:28Z")
> [@DiosaBellissima](#): > > I actually don’t pretend to know enough about the specifics of the case to speak directly on the sentence, but I will point out that today, [Bradley/Chelsea Manning publicly requested to be referred to with feminine pronouns.](http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-bradley-manning-woman-20130822,0,4128824.story) He can request to be called El Duque Del Plaza Toro if he wants. Doesn’t mean I have to stop calling him Traitor. ---
**Author:** ![DiosaBellissima](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a8b319/32.png) [@DiosaBellissima](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DiosaBellissima)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2013, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mannings-sentence/666878/11 "2013-08-22T16:54:29Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > He can request to be called El Duque Del Plaza Toro if he wants. Doesn’t mean I have to stop calling him Traitor. Fortunately enough for you, the word “traitor” is a genderless noun. So, carry on without concern. ---
**Author:** ![Oakminster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/77aa72/32.png) [@Oakminster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oakminster)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2013, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mannings-sentence/666878/12 "2013-08-22T16:57:25Z")
> [@Mr.Kobayashi](#): > > By way of comparison Anders Breivik shot dead 77 innocent people and was sentenced to 21 years in jail. That’s not a fair comparison. Breivik was convicted and sentenced in Norway. Had he done the same thing in this country, he would have been eligible for the death penalty in states that have it, and certainly would have been sentenced to a much longer term in prison if he managed to avoid the death penalty. ---
**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2013, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mannings-sentence/666878/13 "2013-08-22T17:17:49Z")
Does anyone know how likely it is that he will be paroled and when? ---
**Author:** ![shiftless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9c0ed/32.png) [@shiftless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shiftless)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2013, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mannings-sentence/666878/14 "2013-08-22T17:27:55Z")
The court didn’t find him to be treasonous or to have aided the enemy. The linked article says: “the Departments of Defense and State were unable to tie his releases to the deaths of any U.S. informants.” That’s good enough for me to think that it just might be possible that some of those thousands and thousands of documents he released were classified for reasons other than national security. I’d like to know why our military needs to hide so much of their actions. That makes him a whistleblower to me. He went about it the wrong way and there is no way he could have known if there was compromising information in any of the documents, he couldn’t have read them all. That makes him a dumbass and maybe even an intended traitor, who can say. So I’d vote he should get 20 years. Now I’d like to know how many years the idiots that allowed him access to so much important data will get. Their slothful indifference to their duties led directly to this situation IMO and if it’s of such national importance then those guys should getting their balls kicked about now. Fortunately for them, we’ve caught that rascal Manning and we can all just go back to doing what we were doing before. ---
**Author:** ![madsircool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madsircool/32/3432_2.png) [@madsircool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madsircool)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2013, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mannings-sentence/666878/15 "2013-08-22T17:53:47Z")
> [@DiosaBellissima](#): > > I actually don’t pretend to know enough about the specifics of the case to speak directly on the sentence, but I will point out that today, [Bradley/Chelsea Manning publicly requested to be referred to with feminine pronouns.](http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-bradley-manning-woman-20130822,0,4128824.story) Kinda funny timing, isnt it? Great time to become a she and avoid Leavenworth. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![DiosaBellissima](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a8b319/32.png) [@DiosaBellissima](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DiosaBellissima)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2013, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mannings-sentence/666878/16 "2013-08-22T18:13:24Z")
> [@madsircool](#): > > Kinda funny timing, isnt it? Great time to become a she and avoid Leavenworth. :rolleyes: 😕 Apparently, this has been a known fact that she was working through for a while now-- exchanges from when she was in the military came up during sentencing. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2013, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mannings-sentence/666878/17 "2013-08-22T18:20:30Z")
It does raise the question of whether getting the Army to call him female would require them to move him to a prison he’d find more to his tastes. ---
**Author:** ![Omar\_Little](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omar_little/32/269_2.png) [@Omar\_Little](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omar_Little)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2013, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mannings-sentence/666878/18 "2013-08-22T18:52:52Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > It does raise the question of whether getting the Army to call him female would require them to move him to a prison he’d find more to his tastes. I highly doubt the Army is going to refer to him as a female, simply because he’s asked them to. ---
**Author:** ![I\_Made\_French\_Toast\_For\_You](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/858c86/32.png) [@I\_Made\_French\_Toast\_For\_You](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_Made_French_Toast_For_You)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2013, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mannings-sentence/666878/19 "2013-08-22T18:53:16Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > It does raise the question of whether getting the Army to call him female would require them to move him to a prison he’d find more to his tastes. Her tastes don’t matter. Women belong in prisons for women. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2013, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mannings-sentence/666878/20 "2013-08-22T18:55:53Z")
> [@I\_Made\_French\_Toast\_For\_You](#): > > Her tastes don’t matter. Women belong in prisons for women. And since he’s not a woman, that’s a moot point. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mannings-sentence/666878.md?page=2)