Posted on 04/22/2008 12:07:37 PM PDT by anymouse
Barring very unusual circumstances, a prison term in the range of three to five years.
That would encourage every “ally” to recruit spies. You could easily make it worthwhile for someone to spend five years or less in prison.
Pay me a million dollars (especially if tax free) and I’ll go to lockup for that period of time. Great wages for watching TV, and that’s only if I get convicted.
Thanks for the ping Jet Jaguar.
Hang ALL spies in the public square, is my opinion.
Puh-leeze. Doing five years of prison time is not a pleasant experience, especially for a “white collar” criminal, someone who is accustomed to at least a middle class standard of living. Plus whatever illicit income he had accumulated from his handlers would likely be confiscated in some form or another, and rightly so.
We have to deter spying with a punishment so severe that nobody in their right mind would consider it. It has to ruin your life forever if you’re caught.
Treating it like stealing a car is ridiculous.
That should be the case for all crimes, but unfortunately there are people out there who would still do them, everything up to and including first degree murder.
Still, for the criminal justice system to be be just, there must be a principle of proportionality: the more severe the crime, the more severe the penalty - and vise versa.
From reading the US espionage statutes in detail, I come away with the impression that the law doesn't distinguish between various levels of espionage and their consequences very well, and so there are some defendants who may be get overly harsh or overly lenient sentences.
But I do know that at the time of the Pollard case, sentences for espionage for a first-time offender working for an ally usually were in the three to five year range. So I don't see my concept of an appropriate penalty in such circumstances to be radical or outrageous.
I have no problem with prosecution of anyone who passes secrets including Pollard. I think the punishment should be proportional to the offense and the reality is that nobody has been punished the way Pollard was. Do you have any real evidence that the Israelis gave Pollard’s info to the Soviets? I have never seen any.
But also remember that we have given both China and Russia design secrets for nuclear weapons and our NMD designs.
One has to really wonder how many nuclear weapons spies are lurking in America, sent in by Iran, the Wahhabist Saudis & al-Qaida?
Espionage of national security secrets is still a crime against the state but it is neither treason (aid and comfort to the enemy in a time of war) nor sedition (efforts to overthrow our form of government).
Considering that Axis Sally was convicted of treason after WWII and out in 7 years, it is something to consider.
I’d scale back that comment if I were you. The Rosenbergs were executed for their espionage.
I agree that the spies within the CIA and FBI should’ve been executed for their betrayal.
BTW, Pollard was sentenced by a BLACK, Carter-appointed judge. I would respectfully suggest that antisemitism might well have played a role in the harshness of his sentence. (The sentencing judge has since passed on.)
The standard has been 2 to 5 years. Pollard is way over and nobody else has been close.
I’d scale back that comment if I were you. The Rosenbergs were executed for their espionage.<<
That is a great non incoherent statement that is unconnected, says nothing and means nothing. What do the Rosenbergs have to do with Pollard, he was probably not born by the time they were hanged. Why even bring them up here.
They worked for an enemy nation. They endangered the lives and security of all Americans. Pollard did none of those things.
I know Dershowitz claims that the judge had anti Israel bias. Then again Desshowitz is not above lying for his clients and Pollard is not an exception. I once saw a debate with Joe DeGenova, who prosecuted Pollard. DeGenova kept asking him about a memo that was used at the trial. Dershowitz kept saying he is not allowed to say if he saw it. Obviously he did see it and could not refute it.
It should be way over that, and I hope Pollard dies in jail.
There is not a much more despicable crime than stealing the secrets of our nation and giving them to a foreign country. It jeopardizes our position as a superpower and endangers countless citizens.
Why on earth would we give a longer sentence to someone who holds dog fights than to someone who sells our national secrets to foreigners?
I think there is an understanding that friends spy on friends. The USA had a spy in Israel who was captured at the same time. There are people who spy for Taiwan, South Korea, etc. I think they should be punished in all cases but I don’t think it should be more than most murderers get. If Pollard walks out tomorrow, nobody will think he got off easily and be encouraged to do what he did.
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