Judge sentences Bradley Manning to 35 years

Re:Judge sentences Bradley Manning to 35 years by alttag on Wednesday August 21, 2013 @12:02PM (#6251238)

  > “There is value in deterrence, your honor; this court
  > must send a message to any soldier contemplating stealing 
  > classified information,” said Capt. Joe Morrow, a 
  > military prosecutor.

As I posted just recently [1], research has consistently shown deterrence has at best a minor effect. Other personal values and environmental factors are better predictors of noncompliance.

See, e.g., the best review article I've seen on neutralization theory [2][3].

1: http://alt-tag.com/blog/2013/08/manning-sentenced-prosecutor... (shameless plug) 2: Maruna, S., and Copes, H. "What Have We Learned in Five Decades of Neutralization Research? ," _Crime and Justice: A Review of Research (32)_ 2005, pp 221-320. 3: http://www.academia.edu/843421/What_Have_We_Learned_from_Fiv...

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Re:Judge sentences Bradley Manning to 35 years by spuz on Wednesday August 21, 2013 @02:30PM (#6252383)

Even if deterrence had a significant effect, surely it's totally immoral to punish one person for the potential future crimes of others? I don't understand how anyone can accept the idea of deterrence when deciding sentencing terms. Either the crime is bad enough to warrant a significant punishment, or it's not and therefore unnecessary to deter anyone else from committing the same crime.

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