<story><title>Need advice or assistance for son who is in prison</title><url>https://mathoverflow.net/questions/382003/need-advice-or-assistance-for-son-who-is-in-prison-his-interest-is-scattering-t</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>whiddershins</author><text>Think, for a moment.&lt;p&gt;Let’s all think.&lt;p&gt;Are we saying it is tragic for smart and young people to be in prison but not older or less intelligent people?&lt;p&gt;I’m not messing with you or being snarky. I felt your sentiment keenly and then wonder what exactly I’m agreeing with.</text></item><item><author>sebmellen</author><text>It&amp;#x27;s tragic to see bright young people in prison like this. Travis (the son in this post) is 25. To be in prison since 19 years old, with the earliest release date in 2027 (latest in 2045)... Goodness. This sort of time in jail is what you get for murder in parts of Europe [1].&lt;p&gt;Anyway, sorry if it&amp;#x27;s off-topic. Very inspiring what he&amp;#x27;s up to.&lt;p&gt;[1] &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&amp;#x2F;wiki&amp;#x2F;Life_imprisonment_in_the_Netherlands&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&amp;#x2F;wiki&amp;#x2F;Life_imprisonment_in_the_Nethe...&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;&amp;gt; &lt;i&gt;Due to the strict nature of the sentence, most &amp;quot;common&amp;quot; murders result in a sentence of around 12 to 30 years.&lt;/i&gt;&lt;p&gt;EDIT: If you downvoted me I would appreciate knowing why. What is it that I wrote?</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>sebmellen</author><text>I&amp;#x27;m sorry if it comes off as dismissing the plight of others, that certainly wasn&amp;#x27;t my intention.&lt;p&gt;I think being sentenced so heavily in one&amp;#x27;s youth is arguably more tragic because there&amp;#x27;s an argument to be made that adolescence is a different developmental period [0]. Perhaps sentencing should take this into account (e.g. a different sentencing bracket until ~24?). Also, there&amp;#x27;s another argument to be made that younger people have had less time to sort themselves out, and a longer time to redeem themselves or make something of themselves (which I think we see here, not to say an elderly person couldn&amp;#x27;t do that).&lt;p&gt;With regards to less intelligent people who are imprisoned, I would even say their plight is maybe even &lt;i&gt;more&lt;/i&gt; tragic. Less intelligent people probably have faced many more hardships in life and&amp;#x2F;or had a harder time mounting a strong legal defence (though intelligent people are more likely to abuse drugs [1]).&lt;p&gt;I suppose this struck me in particular because it&amp;#x27;s a strong condemnation of the stereotype that prisoners are &amp;quot;certain kinds&amp;quot; of people. The contrast is what made it stand out. Maybe it can serve as an example for those who believe you only end up in prison if you are one of those &amp;quot;certain kinds&amp;quot; of people.&lt;p&gt;Again, it wasn&amp;#x27;t a calculated sentiment, it just struck me how absurd getting sentenced to up to 30 years of imprisonment is, especially as a 19 year-old who probably could&amp;#x27;ve ended up at a top university if not for life circumstances.&lt;p&gt;I also think our justice and prison system is fundamentally flawed and should be reworked, especially for non-violent crimes (which this borders on the edge of).&lt;p&gt;[0]: &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;bigthink.com&amp;#x2F;mind-brain&amp;#x2F;adult-brain&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;bigthink.com&amp;#x2F;mind-brain&amp;#x2F;adult-brain&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;[1]: &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.psychologytoday.com&amp;#x2F;us&amp;#x2F;blog&amp;#x2F;the-scientific-fundamentalist&amp;#x2F;201010&amp;#x2F;why-intelligent-people-drink-more-alcohol&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.psychologytoday.com&amp;#x2F;us&amp;#x2F;blog&amp;#x2F;the-scientific-funda...&lt;/a&gt;</text></comment>
<story><title>Need advice or assistance for son who is in prison</title><url>https://mathoverflow.net/questions/382003/need-advice-or-assistance-for-son-who-is-in-prison-his-interest-is-scattering-t</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>whiddershins</author><text>Think, for a moment.&lt;p&gt;Let’s all think.&lt;p&gt;Are we saying it is tragic for smart and young people to be in prison but not older or less intelligent people?&lt;p&gt;I’m not messing with you or being snarky. I felt your sentiment keenly and then wonder what exactly I’m agreeing with.</text></item><item><author>sebmellen</author><text>It&amp;#x27;s tragic to see bright young people in prison like this. Travis (the son in this post) is 25. To be in prison since 19 years old, with the earliest release date in 2027 (latest in 2045)... Goodness. This sort of time in jail is what you get for murder in parts of Europe [1].&lt;p&gt;Anyway, sorry if it&amp;#x27;s off-topic. Very inspiring what he&amp;#x27;s up to.&lt;p&gt;[1] &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&amp;#x2F;wiki&amp;#x2F;Life_imprisonment_in_the_Netherlands&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&amp;#x2F;wiki&amp;#x2F;Life_imprisonment_in_the_Nethe...&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;&amp;gt; &lt;i&gt;Due to the strict nature of the sentence, most &amp;quot;common&amp;quot; murders result in a sentence of around 12 to 30 years.&lt;/i&gt;&lt;p&gt;EDIT: If you downvoted me I would appreciate knowing why. What is it that I wrote?</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>cm2012</author><text>A good rule of thumb for how people categorize levels of tragedy is how much &amp;quot;potential&amp;quot; is being wasted.</text></comment>