You’ll Be Doin’ Society A Favor

Mark isn't the only blogger in the Cuban family.

His brother Brian, an attorney working for Mark Cuban Companies, is also out there in the jockosphere with his blog, The Cuban Revolution.  And whether you agree or disagree with his stance on any given issue, at least he gets you thinking.

His latest entry is a discussion on the sentencing of Michael Vick.  Brian responds to certain accusations that Vick has been unfairly punished.  He suggests that Vick has the potential to serve as a deterrent to others, not only because of who he is, but because his crime falls into a narrow class.  Brian blogs that such crimes are "crimes that may not occur on a repetitive level to a degree that it is a societal issue versus a regional or even local issue."

Brian believes that with such crimes "the range of sentencing allows for a direct message to be sent to a narrow class of people."  It's what he calls an "example sentence."

It is the nature of the crime and not Vick's fame that provides the reason for the "example sentence."  However, he blogs, "without the opportunity to make an example and send such a message in high profile cases such as Michael Vick there would be no deterrent value at all  beyond the person sentenced in prosecution of individual cases."

In short, Michael Vick gets busted for drunk driving, his sentence a moot point.  Brian blogs, "Such crimes are so woven into society and occur with such frequency that unless we change our entire sentencing structure and philosophy to make everyone an example, singling one person out for a harsher sentence would have no social deterrent effect."  That said, Joe Six-pack gets put away on dog fighting charges, the sentence is more or less going to affect Joe Six-Pack and maybe his band of merry dog fighting men. (Yes, Joe Six-Pack is alive and well.)

An "example sentence" is something like a perfect storm: right crime, right person.

Again, agree or disagree, at least Brian gets you thinking.

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