Comment Re:Wait a minute (Score 1) 683
So I can get a year in prison for having a joint on my person, but I can invade someone's privacy and become the cause of their death and just suffer a month? Interesting how that works.
The maximum sentence allowed for an offense is usually much greater than the actual sentence rendered in an individual case. I think that in most states, your example of having a joint would probably get you 6-12 months' probation and an expunged criminal record, with no time in jail other than when you're waiting to get released on bail/bond. This is assuming you accept a plea bargain. Even if you went to trial and lost, you would likely not get the full "therapy".
In my state, someone who commits a class "D" felony *CAN* be sentenced to up to 5 years in prison. Class "D" is the least severe type of felony; examples include small-time drug dealing, carrying a gun into a school, and theft of property valued between $1,000 and $10,000). Getting sentenced to the full 5 years only really happens to criminals with long histories. According to the criminal defense attorneys I've spoken to, the sentence for a "D" felony, especially if it is the person's first criminal charge, is almost always 1-2 years' probation. If the person accepts a guilty plea bargain and saves the state the (considerable) expense of going to trial, the person gets the added benefit of having their criminal case history expunged if they complete their probation successfully. Otherwise, there is a "guilty" conviction that requires a pardon from the governor to overturn (good luck with that). Expungement sort of makes it like the whole thing never happened; you are treated as though there was no conviction even though you plead guilty and were given a sentence. Presumably, background checks for rental housing and employment will turn up nothing on you. Of course, if you face ANOTHER criminal charge in the future, the courts will take your previous expunged offense into account and give you a somewhat harsher sentence that time around. I have been told that most states operate more or less like this.
As far as I can tell, the maximum possible sentence is used to scare the hell out of the accused and get them to plead guilty to "make this go away". Nationally, I think 90% of criminal cases are settled by a plea bargain; who knows how many of those people are really guilty (I wonder if pleading guilty to a crime you didn't commit is considered perjury). It saves the courts a lot of money, and many states these days are broke. Slashdot had a story on this recently, I think it was called "How To Crash The Court System".