So, Ross Ulbricht, aka Dread Pirate Roberts, the alleged creator of the internet's Amazon for drugs, has now been sentenced to life. One report said that was life without parole, but I haven't seen confirmation of that yet. Several of the charges against him carried the possibility of life sentences, so that seems plausible.
Reasonable sentence? Too tough? Too lenient?
Here's a question. If, as I believe is the case, Dread Pirate Roberts did not actually handle the drugs, and certainly did not engage in drug-related violence, but just ran the store, how does that compare with the banksters who laundered billion$ for violent drug cartels? They presumably didn't handle the drugs either, or whack their competition, but they knew what they were doing and they were arguably profiting from a much worse criminal enterprise (because of the scope and violence of the cartels and for other reasons). Yet nobody served a minute.
Reasonable sentence? Too tough? Too lenient?
Here's a question. If, as I believe is the case, Dread Pirate Roberts did not actually handle the drugs, and certainly did not engage in drug-related violence, but just ran the store, how does that compare with the banksters who laundered billion$ for violent drug cartels? They presumably didn't handle the drugs either, or whack their competition, but they knew what they were doing and they were arguably profiting from a much worse criminal enterprise (because of the scope and violence of the cartels and for other reasons). Yet nobody served a minute.