Former Proud Boys national leader Enrique Tarrio is set to be sentenced on Wednesday for a failed plot to keep Donald Trump in power after the Republican lost the 2020 presidential election, capping one of the most significant prosecutions in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.
Prosecutors are seeking 33 years behind bars for Tarrio, who had already been arrested and ordered to leave Washington, D.C., by the time Proud Boys members joined thousands of Trump supporters in storming the Capitol as lawmakers met to certify Democrat Joe Biden’s 2020 electoral victory. But prosecutors say Tarrio organized and led the group’s assault from afar, inspiring followers with his charisma and penchant for propaganda.
Tarrio was a top target in one of the most important Capitol riot cases prosecuted by the Justice Department. He and three lieutenants were convicted in May of charges including seditious conspiracy — a rarely brought Civil War-era offense that the Justice Department levied against members of far-right groups who played a key role in the Jan. 6 attack.
Agreed. Prison in the US is tortuous and that is the point. It ruins your prospects when you get out, too. Ensuring crime is more likely. Prison in the US is absolutely pointless in the vast majority of cases to actually decrease crime.
America also has disproportionately long prison sentences for all types of crimes. 33 years ensures this person will be ~72yo when he gets out. So he will immediately be on medicare and likely retired, if possible. At that point, the only reason to not just execute a person is because you could later overturn the conviction.
We keep people in prison so long we’re effectively denying them any more life while also spending huge gobs of money to do so AND also denying them any productivity to benefit society. It really is just about the American bloodthirst for revenge.