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Didn’t Tyson kill someone in a street-bout of bare-knuckle when he was 16 ??? Queensbury rules or not, thats one mean sonofabitch…
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Just out of curiosity - where do so called “white collar” criminals get placed in this heirarchy? Particularly really highly placed or privileged ones like Enron / Arthur Anderson execs who wind up drawing sentences. I know that cases like that are going to wind up in a minimum security lockup, and probably not in a population with the really violent criminals, but, still, how do they get ranked? I can think of two conflicting motivations here - these guys are “brainy” criminals, which should earn them some respect. On the other hand, there would have to be a tremendous amount of resentment towards the rich, priveleged guy. I doubt that large percentages of prison populations were in any position to have lost money in the Enron collapse.
I think this would be a completely different ball game. It’s a big “if” that anyone involved with any of this will actually serve any hardcore prison time. House arrest is one option. “Club Fed” is another.
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As for Mike Tyson, it’s been reported that he was treated like a hero in prison and was admired by his fellow inmates, FWIW. Maybe money had something to do with it. I might be able to track down a cite.
Fraudsters are simply seen as a resource, to be used for their knowledge and education in assisting other criminals.
Some fraudsters are actually very serious heavy duty criminals indeed, and definately not to be messed around with by the average inmate.
Other fraudsters might end up paying protection, whilst smaller fry will likely be left alone if they have little to offer.
A lot really depends upon their own attitude, but gernerally speaking, high level fraudsters are not unwise to the ways of the world, there is often less distance between them and the way other criminals think than you would suppose.
No one has chosen what to me seems the most obvious reason that child molesters get special attention. A fellow prisoner can’t necessarily make assumptions about the “innocence” of the victims of most crimes but they can when it comes to children. Add to that:
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As others have said, everyone can identify with being a child. Most prisoner’s can’t identify with being an innocent woman and figure men can fend for themselves.
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If your a prisoner looking for someone to beat on, a child molester seems like less of a confrontational risk.
Regarding spies: Nobody likes betrayal and everyone knows the victim of treason - Everyone in the United States which includes the prisoner.
If you’re interested in how this dynamic works, go find the play Short Eyes (an old prison term for child molester), which playwright Miguel Pinero originally created while he was in prison.
Aren’t we confusing the notions of spy and traitor?
A traitor may be treated with contempt and hatred because he is working against his native country – he was one of us, and has turned against us and hurt us.
A spy is working for his native country and against our country – he is not one of us and has not turned against us.
It has always puzzled me why a spy is murdered during time of war (and sometimes during peace), but a captured enemy soldier is to be treated humanely, even though such a person may have accounted for dozens or hundreds of deaths.
Is there anything in the Geneva Convention to be applied to spies and traitors?
Tyson was convicted of ‘date rape’ which is likely to get a fair amount of sympathy in prison Id say, given general attitidues about it in masculinity tending to view it much less harshly than stranger rape - the victim is even more likely to be put on trial than the perp in these cases.
Given hes also viewed as someone from the streets who ‘made good’ Id have thought he’d get a fair amount of respect.
As far as the perceived innocence of victims go, that was addressed several times already in regards to empathy and the like.
Otara
Because everyone likes to look down on someone. Everyone is higher in a hierarchy than a child molester, where there is no presumed motive or innocence.