More than a weekend for Bernie: Madoff gets 150 years

dude is 71 after all, a shame they can't keep him alive for 150 years.... he may not serve more than a weekend, who knows *cough*

The long sentence is a message to other similar would-be offenders, and it is thus:

Do this type of crime and do it big, and you're going to die in jail, whether you are 22 or 72.

IIRC life sentences vary from state to state and from states to Federal. Some allow early release or time off for good behavior, and minimum number of years vary. A sentence of 150 years says clearly that the guilty party will die in jail no matter what.

I'm sure one of our able lawyer members can correct any of this that I've misunderstood.

i always thought extremely long prison sentences were a result, not necessarily a goal--specifically, a result of being convicted of multiple crimes. if i'm convicted of 100 crimes that each carry a 1-year sentence, i get 100 years. the point of that, in turn, is to make sure i serve some jail time for my crimes, even if i'm really slick or the prosecution bungles very badly. even if i manage to not get convicted for 50% of my crimes, i'm still looking at 50 years. if everything were lumped together into one big sentence, then a single mistake could get me off the hook completely and i'd serve no jailtime at all.

That's what I've been wondering about this. Whether it's a 150 year sentence, or whether he received sentences for each of the 11 counts against him, and those sentences add up to 150 years.

I'd think it were a consecutive life sentence thing--they give them to you back-to-back so that when you're eligible for parole after the 15 or 20 year minimum, you still have to do the minimum for the second sentence, as I understand it, which essentially assures you spend the rest of your life in prison. But there's no parole in federal prison, so I don't think the back-to-back trick applies.

Not necessarily. Sentences can be set to run consecutively (back to back) or concurrently (all of them at the same time, effectively limiting time in prison to the length of the longest single charge). Prosecutors and defendant lawyers ask for different sentences; in this case, the judge went for the maximum the prosecution asked for. Incidentally, 150 years is long but far from the longest sentence criminals have gotten lately - some are in US prisons serving 800+ year sentences.

Also, prosecutors can and often do throw multiple charges up to see what sticks, and there can be lesser included charges.

What own dime? He has no money left, all that he had he stole from people who's lives are now ruined, who's life savings have gone away, i hope he becomes the shower bitch if you ask me...

how does him being the shower bitch accomplish anything ? how does that help any of his victims, or society as a whole?

and just because he doesn't have any money left doesn't mean he can't earn more money, which he can use to pay for his lodging, food etc.

Madoff is virtually certain to be banned from the securities industry for life. Considering that is where his talents (?) and experience are, I'm not sure how much money he could make in the future - and that's assuming anyone would give him a job better than scrubbing the prison floors for 7 cents an hour.

He's stolen so much money from so many people that he could work 24/7/365 until the day he drops dead and all of his earnings would barely make a splash in the ocean of fraud.

What about all his assets the court forced him to give up? Where's that money going to?

-TM

Imagine the sheet of steel or concrete block he will have to sleep on compared to the feather bed he had slept on.

The $85 million in assets he is forfeiting is dwarfed by the $30 billion (minimum) he stole - roughly 3% at best. That money isn't going far, even if it is distributed to victims straightaway.