Investors got their 150 pounds of flesh today...

As an icon of everything wrong with the world, Bernie Madoff today was handed his sentence - 150 years in prison - resulting in a life sentence in a medium security prison. From what I've read, there is no "Camp Fed" for Bernie... and also from what I've read, most people believe he deserves to die in prison. He has stolen the savings of thousands of people, bilked the smartest guys out there and lived a lie. I agree - he is criminal, he did it on purpose, and he should be punished.

As a counter point, there are worse criminals out there, who have raped, murdered, tortured and threatened people, whose futures (if any) are far more impacted by the perpetrators. I have not done the research on the average time served of a violent sex offender or someone who commits homicide. My sense is, though that they traditionally don't get these long sentences.

Why does this sentence seem so lopsided? Don't get me wrong, I'm not defending or advocating for either type of criminal. I'm just observing that it seems out of whack.

Perhaps the judge was setting an example of Madoff with other Wall street types to snap them to attention.

Another possible explanation is the "future buying power" of the victims of Madoff. If I take out the seniors who will lose their homes and security, being bilked by Madoff is only a set back (albeit big) for those investors... in other words, they can recover.

What of the family of the violent assault/homicide victim... who is advocating for their rights in the judicial system? Why does the upper middle class plea for the financial criminal to rot in hell seem to count more than the poverty stricken mother of a child killed in a drive by?

Again, I'm not saying give Madoff less, or violent criminals more.... I just want to ask the question - how do you think the role of the victim's class impacted the process?