# Why are we afraid to punish white-collar crimes? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [February 26, 2004, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-we-afraid-to-punish-white-collar-crimes/231361 "2004-02-26T22:09:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Brandus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/898d66/32.png) [@Brandus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brandus)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2004, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-we-afraid-to-punish-white-collar-crimes/231361/1 "2004-02-26T22:09:04Z")
Recently Andrew Fastow, former CFO of Enron, was sentenced to 10 year in prison. He was an accomplice in a crime that resulted in thousands of employees being laid off and losing their retirement. Andrew personally profitted off of Enron’s demise (until he was caught). All of Enron’s customers and stock holders were bamboozled. Yet 10 almost seems like too much. There was no public outcry for him to be sentenced for life or recieve the death sentence (Enron was based in Texas!, remember?) Such ‘white collar’ crimes definately do not invoke the passionate outcries of a murder (scott peterson) or a rape, yet arguably do more damage to many more people. Why is this? ---
**Author:** ![laigle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ce7236/32.png) [@laigle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/laigle)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2004, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-we-afraid-to-punish-white-collar-crimes/231361/2 "2004-02-26T22:34:00Z")
Beats me. I’m all for taking them behind the woodshed. A common bank robber would have gotten more time than Fastow did. If I were the prosecutor, I would have tried him an a few thousand charges of fraud with sentences served consecutively, and if he played nice I would have let him serve out his life sentence in a medium security wing instead of the extra nutty block of the most violent maximum security joint in the state. ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2004, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-we-afraid-to-punish-white-collar-crimes/231361/3 "2004-02-26T23:06:29Z")
Aren’t property crimes always treated as lesser crimes than those that involve violence? That doesn’t seem odd to me. But then, I AM odd, so what do I know? Julie ---
**Author:** ![Ice97531](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/bb73d2/32.png) [@Ice97531](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ice97531)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2004, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-we-afraid-to-punish-white-collar-crimes/231361/4 "2004-02-26T23:29:04Z")
anyone that messes things up that bad should serve way for than 10 years. Its simply absurd. Is it right that in 10 years or whenever he was prosecuted from, that he could go out and start another business, or even just take an easy job? In 10 years? NO! :smack: Make 'em stay in jail for much longer … I can’t even think of a just sentence length, but 10 years is ridiculous ---
**Author:** ![wakimika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f08c70/32.png) [@wakimika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wakimika)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2004, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-we-afraid-to-punish-white-collar-crimes/231361/5 "2004-02-26T23:49:05Z")
His sentence was a plea deal. His [cooperation](http://money.cnn.com/2004/01/14/news/companies/enron_fastows/) with authorities factored into the “lightness” of his penalty. Ugly as it is on the surface, his testimony will be crucial in prosecuting his bosses. ---
**Author:** ![Loopydude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e56c9b/32.png) [@Loopydude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loopydude)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2004, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-we-afraid-to-punish-white-collar-crimes/231361/6 "2004-02-27T00:18:38Z")
> [@wakimika](#): > > His sentence was a plea deal. His [cooperation](http://money.cnn.com/2004/01/14/news/companies/enron_fastows/) with authorities factored into the “lightness” of his penalty. > > Ugly as it is on the surface, his testimony will be crucial in prosecuting his bosses. I would say the plea deal should have been something like: Cooperate, and we’ll let you out of solitary once a week to see the sunlight. Don’t cooperate, and we put you in maximum security with a cellmate named 'Bubba" who thinks you’re awful cute.