Madoff Gets 150 Years

{Dwayne Betts}

I'm not want to be sympathetic to someone who stole 13 billion dollars by low estimates and 50 billion dollars by high estimates. But it's insane the staggering sentences the court system in most states in the United States mete out. I'm talking about people on a regular basis walking around with 30, 40 and 50 year sentences in states that don't have parole, as if 85% of 30 isn't life in most circumstances.

The insanity of such high sentences is really brought to bear in the case of Madoff, who in most states would already be eligible for geriatric parole. I just wonder if we have long passed the point where the sentences given begin to have diminishing returns. And I honestly can't begin to fathom a punishment that fits his crime - but I know the number 150 exists in a fairy tale world that can have no real deterrence factor on the current ponzi scheme being developed in someone's head.