Jussie Smollett Convicted - Why He Doesn't Deserve Prison Time

Sentencing former "Empire" actor Jussie Smollett to prison for staging a fake hate crime and lying about it would be a miscarriage of justice. Smollett is a famous actor whose career will likely never recover, his criminal history is minor, and the offense of conviction is non-violent. Those factors favor a sentence of probation with fines and/or community service. Our position is consistent with the sentencing factors outlined by Congress in the federal system which include "the nature and circumstances of the offense and the history and characteristics of the defendant ... to reflect the seriousness of the offense, to promote respect for the law, and to provide just punishment for the offense ... to afford adequate deterrence to criminal conduct ... to protect the public from further crimes of the defendant ... to provide the defendant with needed educational or vocational training, medical care, or other correctional treatment in the most effective manner." (see 18 U.S.C. 3553 https://ift.tt/1PpgsSS). Note that although this case is before an Illinois court and not a federal court that the law we just cited does not apply, but we are still using it because we are more familiar with the federal system and we know that the factors outlined by Congress are basically the same as the factors used by local judges across the country. Nature and Circumstances of the Offense The nature and circumstances of the offense do not favor prison time because the offense was non-violent, not a sex crime, and did not result in significant monetary losses for anyone other than Smollett. History and Characteristics of the Defendant The only prior conviction we are aware of Smollett having on his records was a misdemeanor for giving false information to law enforcement in 2007 (https://ift.tt/2BL6OLH). People with a single prior misdemeanor from over 10 years ago typically fall at the bottom of the criminal history scales used in sentencing guidelines across the country. In such cases the guidelines typically favor probation unless the nature and circumstances of the offense are heinous enough to justify sending a first time felon to prison. Smollett himself is a famous actor whose reputation has been ruined as a result of this case. There is a good chance he won't be able to find work in Hollywood at all after this. Any work he does find will not be anything like his prior work. He might be able to land a role as a zombie on The Walking Dead, but only because the makeup will keep viewers from recognizing him. Even then would likely have to exploit personal connections to overcome the fear any company would have of him being seen on their property. This factor favors probation because he has already suffered far more financially than most similarly situated defendants. Reflect Seriousness of Offense Nobody deserves to go to prison for making up stupid stories. Had he gotten away with it what would have been the harm? Two guys would have been paid for helping him stage the attack and nobody would have been hurt. It would have been for the most part a victimless crime with the only real victim being the truth. Such acts are not serious enough to justify sending anyone to prison. Afford Adequate Deterrence and Protect the Public from Further Crimes Smollett likely learned his lesson the second people started realizing what really happened. Just being known for doing something like this should be enough to deter Smollett and any similarly situated celebrity from trying to do something like this in the future. The conviction is surely enough to deter Smollett from doing it ever again. The only possible argument for sending Smollett to prison under this section would be that he needs to be made an example of because of the high profile nature of the case. That argument is not valid because it would be largely based on who the defendant is and not what he did. Provide the Defendant with needed Educational or Vocational Training Smollett is a rich and famous actor with the means to send himself to college. The system has nothing to offer Smollett in this area. Conclusion Jussie Smollett did a stupid thing, but society would not benefit from paying to incarcerate him. He is not a danger to society, he has suffered enough to deter anyone in his shoes from doing anything like this ever again, and he is not in need of any services from the system. #jussiesmollett #liars #blacklivesmatter

source https://copblaster.com/blast/45718/jussie-smollett-convicted-why-he-doesnt-deserve-prison-time