Anthony Weiner, is it worth jailing him?

[Quackerson]

"Is it worth jailing him?"

With Weiner, I really didn't care much when the initial sexting disclosures were made several years back that ended up causing him to resign his Congressional seat. Mostly because those activities involved women of consenting age. Frankly, if Weiner had a need to express himself sexually with someone other than his wife, sexting a stranger seemed to be close to the most harmless way to do it in terms of not hurting anyone...provided he didn't get caught. Now, clearly a stupid thing to do in terms of his public occupation, and once he was caught it obviously caused his wife an amount of justifiable distress. In hindsight, clearly it would have been better for him just to rub one out to some porn and go about his business. In the end, though, it wasn't like he was fucking someone who he wasn't married to.

Once Weiner crossed the line to knowingly sexting with an underage girl, regardless of that girl's motivations and actions before, during and after the incident, that became a criminal act. I'm not going to parse things in terms of the girl's age, if girls of that age should be able to consent on their own to such activities with another minor - or an adult - or if the whole thing was politically motivated to bring down Hillary Clinton via the Huma proxy: Weiner knew what he was doing was wrong in terms of the law. A criminal sentence was rendered.

I mean, should we as a society start parsing all convictions in terms of the seriousness of the crimes - which will be subjective to the laymen depending upon who you ask - vs. the cost benefit ratio to locking up offenders? How many corners are we willing to cut to save a buck?

[Quackerson]

Also, I don't think it serves anybody's interests to have Weiner sent to prison specifically so he can be raped by a fellow inmate as an additional form of punishment: surely no reasonable person can say that Weiner's crime, despicable as it may have been in the eyes of some, warrants such treatment.

I've always felt that whole "fuck it, send him to prison so he can be raped in the shower" tact to be contrary to what ANY nation's penal system should represent, in terms of a general sense of humanity.

[Sirch]

But his last name, it's still killing me!

[Arturo2nd]

Originally Posted by Quackerson

Also, I don't think it serves anybody's interests to have Weiner sent to prison specifically so he can be raped by a fellow inmate as an additional form of punishment: surely no reasonable person can say that Weiner's crime, despicable as it may have been in the eyes of some, warrants such treatment.

I've always felt that whole "fuck it, send him to prison so he can be raped in the shower" tact to be contrary to what ANY nation's penal system should represent, in terms of a general sense of humanity.

Yep, I have been outed as a closet barbarian.

California segregates non-violent sex offenders from the general population. Presumably the feds will be sending him to a minimum security facility for white collar types. He shouldn't be in danger there.

[Baxter49]

Originally Posted by Quackerson

I mean, should we as a society start parsing all convictions in terms of the seriousness of the crimes - which will be subjective to the laymen depending upon who you ask - vs. the cost benefit ratio to locking up offenders? How many corners are we willing to cut to save a buck?

Sadly though a precedent has been set, a convicted man is walking around free after pulling this on a minor, and has been for over a year now.

James convinced me money is well spent locking him up without bail a year ago.

I just don't see any urgency by the courts to treat this more seriously.

Before the minor was involved, stupid, pathetic, bad husband, not illegal.

What set me off on this topic was Simpson's taxpayer pricetag, and Weiner getting sentenced,but walked out with a phone in his hands free to go ride subway and walk around.

[Quackerson]

Originally Posted by Brian249x

Yep, I have been outed as a closet barbarian.

California segregates non-violent sex offenders from the general population. Presumably the feds will be sending him to a minimum security facility for white collar types. He shouldn't be in danger there.

I mean, I totally get when someone says something like that in jest, as sort of gallows humor...

But there are more than a few people out there who actually believe that people convicted of certain crimes deserve to be sodomized against their will by their fellow inmates. That attitude, to me, is a bit fucked up.

[Quackerson]

Originally Posted by Baxter49

Sadly though a precedent has been set, a convicted man is walking around free after pulling this on a minor, and has been for over a year now.

James convinced me money is well spent locking him up without bail a year ago.

I just don't see any urgency by the courts to treat this more seriously.

Before the minor was involved, stupid, pathetic, bad husband, not illegal.

What set me off on this topic was Simpson's taxpayer pricetag, and Weiner getting sentenced,but walked out with a phone in his hands free to go ride subway and walk around.

Yeah, well, the rich and powerful (or friends/associates of the rich and powerful) get treated differently than the rest of us. Unfair, to be sure, but a sad reality: had that been Average Joe Schmoe from Idaho, bail probably wouldn't have even been entertained.

I'm not a shrink, but clearly Anthony Weiner has a compulsion that he doesn't have a handle on, or is unable to control. Obviously, even a moron can conclude THAT much. Weiner just kept derailing himself with this behavior, though. First in 2011, then he resigns. Then again in 2013, when - lest we forget - he was ahead in the polls for the New York Mayoral race prior to THOSE sexting instances being outed (when we all made the acquaintance of Ms. Leathers). Then again in 2016, that time knowingly with a minor.

Like, for any career politician with an eye to a comeback, surely the 2011 incident and the fall out from that would have been enough in terms of not ever doing that again, right? And doing this kind of stuff with his infant child lying down next to him? What in 2011 seemed just sort of lamely sad had become a pattern of behavior that was just consuming the guy.

I mean, I'm not going to claim to be Mr. Prim And Proper, here: although I enjoy this forum, suffice to say my primary reason for being a member on this site isn't the political conversation. However, I don't let my enjoyment of pornography take over my life to the point where said enjoyment causes me to engage in criminal behavior.

I think he should serve jail time, because a court has adjudicated his circumstances as such. I can't imagine what his life will be like afterward. I feel badly for his wife and family, and maybe he can get help down the line...honestly, if he weren't such a narcissist I could easily imagine the shame causing him to take his own life (I'm kind of half-surprised he didn't in the wake of the revelations of last year).

[Baxter49]

Originally Posted by Quackerson

However, I don't let my enjoyment of pornography take over my life to the point where said enjoyment causes me to engage in criminal behavior.

For me, the only thing I see is his criminal, violent conduct with a minor, before that it's all consenting adults.

Originally Posted by Quackerson

I think he should serve jail time, because a court has adjudicated his circumstances as such.

I just don't know what we get out of this as taxpayers if the federal court clearly does not take this seriously when they this man should have lost his freedom a year ago. I don't care about his cure or his future, only about the precedent set for the next minor and if our taxpayer money can actually do some good here.

One thought I had in this discussion is these people pay their own bill for being incarcerated, like a loan they must pay back even if for the rest of their lives. Weiner is being fined but the burden is mostly on us and 21 months is a joke.

[Arturo2nd]

Originally Posted by Quackerson

I think he should serve jail time, because a court has adjudicated his circumstances as such. I can't imagine what his life will be like afterward. I feel badly for his wife and family, and maybe he can get help down the line...honestly, if he weren't such a narcissist I could easily imagine the shame causing him to take his own life (I'm kind of half-surprised he didn't in the wake of the revelations of last year).

Huma Abedin has accepted her mistake in marrying him and is in the process of moving on. She will be his ex-wife by the time he gets out.

Jail time is society's way of impressing upon Tony that this stuff is not OK and he needs to knock it off.

[jstevens]

This guy is just plain stupid! His public notoriety in humility is punishment enough. Save the taxpayers money for not supporting another idiot in prison.