Former Penn State defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky was sentenced yesterday to 30 to 60 years in prison on 45 counts of sexually abusing boys. The New York Times has the story here. The sentencing judge could have imposed a much longer cumulative sentence, but said: “I’m not going to sentence you to centuries. It makes no sense for a 68-year-old man. This sentence will put you in prison for the rest of your life.” Those remarks contrast sharply with the approach taken by Denny Chin, the judge who sentenced convicted Ponzi schemer Bernie Madoff, then age 71, to the maximum possible sentence of 150 years in prison. The Times story on the Madoff sentencing is here, and a long story in which Judge Chin discusses his approach to the case is here. In short, Judge Chin viewed the longer-than-life sentence as carrying symbolic weight. North Carolina law allows a judge to consider the defendant’s age at sentencing. Under G.S. 15A-1340.16(e)(4), it is a mitigating factor if a defendant’s “age . . . at the time of the commission of the offense significantly reduced the defendant’s culpability.” In capital cases, G.S. 15A-2000(f)(7) provides that “[t]he age of the defendant at the time of the crime” may be a mitigating circumstance, and the case law is clear that the circumstance may apply to elderly defendants as well as young ones. Note, however, that both of the cited provisions refer to the defendant’s age at the time of the crime, suggesting that age is [...]
Faculty Coordinators
