Is it possible to send a rich and/or connected criminal to jail?

[Beearewhyain]

A somewhat rhetorical question but I am interested in any ideas as to how to actually do it. Two examples that come to mind are Jamie Dimon and Donald Rumsfeld. Now we all know that they are worthy of arrest but how do we get them, within the legitimacy of a judicial system, to answer for their crimes? An egalitarian society depends on it and we do not seem to be in such a system. How do we change that?

I don't know so I am interested in what answers you may have.

[marions ghost]

1. Not unless

the rich and connected want them to go to jail. Like for example, how they turned on Bernie Madoff when he robbed them too.

We do not have an egalitarian society where the government and justice system works to protect the interests of the people against white collar criminals. The shrewd but stupid, short-sighted criminals are not investing in the long term health of the country. The system is corrupt at every level.

First we have to face that.

[Beearewhyain]

2. And again I have to ask

How do we do that or is it useless? If it is useless then it may be time to leave the country which is a position I do not accept.

[marions ghost]

4. I'm not sure

it's possible to do anything about it within the current judicial system. Others may disagree.

About all we have is the Court of Public Opinion, I think.

And we need to keep convicting them there.

[marions ghost]

3. Taking the teeth out of the justice system:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/06/04/eric-holder-1999-memo_n_3384980.html

Eric Holder's 1999 Memo Helped Set The Stage For 'Too Big To Jail'

In a 1999 memo entitled “Bringing Criminal Charges Against Corporations,” written when he was deputy U.S. attorney general, Eric Holder argued that government officials could take into account “collateral consequences" when prosecuting corporate crimes.

That memo has resurfaced at a time when Holder, now U.S. attorney general, faces increasing criticism for the Department of Justice's reluctance to bring charges against white-collar criminals.

“There’s all kinds of problems with the applications of this policy which began with the Holder memo and got more formalized,” said John Coffee, a law professor at Columbia University and an expert in white-collar crime. “You are going to send a message that we don’t really care significantly about misconduct within those institutions.”

Although it brought only a modest change in the way prosecutors evaluate whether to bring criminal charges against corporations, Holder's memo laid the groundwork for subsequent policies that allowed for more leeway when going after large firms, Coffee said.

(more at link)

[ManiacJoe]

5. Two things need to happen.

First, the jury needs to either despise the crime or the perp enough.

Second, there needs to be enough evidence or witnesses that the defense attorneys do not have enough room to play the normal tricks.

[marions ghost]

6. You're assuming it gets to court

....

[marions ghost]

7. This might interest you

as far as insider watchdogs on the financial industry. Individuals putting public pressure on these institutions that are failing us.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/joshua-m-brown/best-financial-journalists_b_1605584.html#slide=1092293


The 25 Most Dangerous People in Financial Media
Posted: 06/18/2012
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Inspiring
Greedy
Typical
Scary
Outrageous
Amazing
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Read more
Financial Media , Keiser Report , Bloomberg , Business Journalism , Naked Capitalism , Neil Barofsky , Propublica , Slideexpand , Business News

Dangerous in a good way -- these are the financial media players who are making things very difficult for the establishment to maintain the status quo. Because we tried it their way, allowing the banks and other corporations to write the laws and make all of our decisions for us. Turns out, that's not true democracy or capitalism, it's something else entirely, and we've all had enough. These are the folks leading the charge to take it back.

(Slide show of the 25 at link)

[marions ghost]

8. K&R

anybody else out there? OP?