Interesting article, but you have to consider that the people that you'll never hear from are the ones with the success stories. So they may be a lot more prevalent than you'd think!
Also, I really wonder if 10 years in jail is the right way to punish somebody that tries to reboot his life in the wrong way. His kid needs him more than he needs 10 years worth of punishment. Garner the guys wages but set him free.
Yeah what exactly are the charges? I'll I noticed were insurance fraud, and possibly identity theft (from someone who presumably wasn't at all hurt by it), plus the theft from the company. Sometimes I wonder if the punishment is a function of how hard the authorities worked to catch him and how angry they were at his antics. If he were caught the next day (even after committing all the same crimes) would he have still gotten 10 years, or a slap on the wrist?
"All" you noticed is $1.3 million in insurance fraud‽ Stealing $1.3 million dollars all by itself is up there beyond "slap on the wrist" territory. I mean, what are you proposing for stealing roughly 30 years' worth of the median American's wages (before taxes)? Six months community service?
Well, that depends on how you look at it. There are more parties whose well being here is at stake then just this guy, and besides that he is now a drain on your society, whereas if you'd put him to work you could garner his wages.
Locking him up for 10 years is just going to ruin the life of one child and cost a fortune in maintaining him.
Six months community service would be a net gain for the community, 10 years of prison is a net loss.
The function of a jail is not to take revenge, it is to keep harmful people out of society. This guy did a great job up to the point where he cracked. I'm sure he could be made to do a great job again given half a chance, and keep him under the breaking strain this time.
>The function of a jail is not to take revenge, it is to keep harmful people out of society
There have been countless words written on the subject, but one of the functions IS deterrence.
Look at it this way: you can try to launch a startup and guide it to a successful exit. If it succeeds, you get some nice cash in the bank. If you fail, you spent a few years and have no material gain to show for it.
Or, you can try to get away with a large-scale fraud. If it succeeds, you get some nice cash in the bank. If you fail, you spend 6 months doing community service and have no material gain to show for it.
Yes, it's obviously oversimplifying (ethics, experience/learning from a failed startup, what do you enjoy doing, etc.) But there has to be a significant cost of failure to prevent people from deciding it's worth a try.
You're missing a few things. The punishment of 10 years in jail didn't deter him. Why? Because he was desperate and viewed this as his only way out of a desperate situation. I'm sure there are many people that attempt the same things that he did for same/similar reasons. This punishment isn't going to deter someone that thinks: (1) They have the 'system' beat (2) This is their only option.
"The function of a jail is not to take revenge, it is to keep harmful people out of society."
Says you. I think the relevant role here is "deterrent". Stealing a million dollars needs to carry more risk than "If I get caught, I'll have to spend a lot of time picking up trash." Letting this thing go lightly is a much larger net gain when a lot more people decide it's rational to try their hand at insurance fraud.
All through this article I was thinking along your same lines. I mean, this guy's a bit of a moron. Who in their right mind changes their identity but then reunites with their family who are all still going by their real names? Especially when he knows there's a manhunt.
Oh, and he was willing to fake his identity but didn't bother trying to print out some fake school transcripts for his kid (Which themselves are usually printed on a regular consumer printer).
Anyway if this guy can make it over a year I'd imagine a reasonably intelligent person could probably get away with it.
The rebooting wasn't really the issue. The attempt to steal $1.3 million from his insurance company was. Although, I will grant that in light of current events, 10 years for attempting to steal (and failing) such a minuscule amount seems a bit perverse.
Also, I really wonder if 10 years in jail is the right way to punish somebody that tries to reboot his life in the wrong way. His kid needs him more than he needs 10 years worth of punishment. Garner the guys wages but set him free.