zlacker

>>sixtyf+(OP)
"Swartz potentially faced more jail time for downloading academic papers than he would have if he had helped Al Qaeda build a nuclear weapon. "

Too much for the American values.

>>NmAmDa+yh
It's things like this that make me believe that the US isn't a truly free society. It simply pretends it is.

But all nations have their problems. The US simply has more than one might think.

>>mettam+8j
The US has the highest prison population per capita in the world.

Mostly because of an outdated view on justice and crime.

>>xorfis+9l
It's good for violent crimes though.

Whereas in Sweden for example, a violent rapist was awarded ~$84k - https://www.gp.se/ledare/v%C3%A5ldt%C3%A4ktsmannens-skadest%... - after he turned out to be a minor but had been tried as an adult, and in the end spent less than 2 years in prison.

Some of ThePirateBay founders had longer sentences, absolute clown world.

>>nivenk+kr
That outdated view in your comment is exactly what I mean.

There might be an argument if the US actually had lower crime or recidivism rates than European countries, but it does not have that.

Yes, it takes some effort to overcome that primal view on justice, but it leads to a more humane society with less crime.