Here Are Some People Who Received Longer Sentences than Manafort for Much Lighter Crimes
Having watched Paul Manafort get sentenced to the equivalent length of your average college education on Thursday, various lawyers observers took to Twitter to point out that the American justice system has a bit of a problem with equality. To wit, here are a whole bunch of cases for people who got a lot more time than Manafort for crimes that were all in all significantly more minor:
While Paul Manafort just received a less than 4 year prison sentence for massive financial fraud, I have a client serving 3 and a half to 7 years in prison for stealing laundry detergent from a drug store. pic.twitter.com/I38uq9WkXK
— Rebecca J. Kavanagh (@DrRJKavanagh) March 8, 2019
For context on Manafort’s 47 months in prison, my client yesterday was offered 36-72 months in prison for stealing $100 worth of quarters from a residential laundry room.
— Scott Hechinger (@ScottHech) March 8, 2019
Last month a man in Mississippi was sentenced to 12 YEARS for possession of marijuana he bought legally in Oregon https://t.co/jPH7NE9pyf
— Judd Legum (@JuddLegum) March 8, 2019
Here’s story of Crystal Mason, who got 5 years for illegally voting even though she didn’t realize she was ineligible to vote. Paul Manafort got less time for betraying his country https://t.co/X9ZHHbshQC
— Ari Berman (@AriBerman) March 8, 2019
Hispanic woman in Texas with green card got 8 years in prison for voting when she didn’t realize she was ineligible, twice the sentence of Paul Manafort https://t.co/5yvAgLEMfd
— Ari Berman (@AriBerman) March 8, 2019
Reality Winner: Blew the whistle on Russia’s attempt to meddle in our election by hacking voting rolls: 63 months
Paul Manafort: Gave Trump’s polling data to a Russian agent while they were meddling in our election: 47 monthshttps://t.co/58scVI5cFo
— Will Bunch (@Will_Bunch) March 8, 2019
Manafort committed fraud—got 47 months.
A man named Fate Vincent Winslow sold $20 of weed to a stranger—got life.
Little thieves are hanged but great ones escape. https://t.co/vJa4c3sp5l https://t.co/vJa4c3sp5l— Rula Jebreal (@rulajebreal) March 8, 2019
The point of this is not necessarily to say that Paul Manafort deserves more time. It is to point out that there are some serious disparities in the American criminal justice system, and they fall exceptionally hard on people with racial and class disadvantages. The relatively light sentence tossed at Manafort, a wealthy white man, after prosecutors had recommended he get somewhere between 19 and 24 years, is yet one more time when those disparities are cast in a very stark light.
