[pothibo]

"Gonzalez stole real money, I'm sure causing many people a great deal of trouble and distress."

I don't think I'll ever agree with this. I have seen this argument brought up times and times again and every time I feel that we miss the point.

Stealing money is bad, yes. Does it deserve a similar amount of time as someone who committed a murder?

Also, nowadays, people who steal money are stealing money from businesses that are protected against those very thieves (Banks, insurances, big commerces). So basically, it's better morally to steal from a bank/insurance than it is to pickpocket since pickpocketing has a direct impact on a single person.

Don't you guys have enough people in jail already?

EDIT: corrected amount of time in comparison to murder.

[cookiecaper]

Most people who murder get sentences of 30+ years, many get life and some get death.

I agree that 20 years is excessive for Gonzales, but it's not the same as (many) murderers.

[rprasad]

It depends. Did Gonzalez's actions result in anyone committing suicide, or any divorces or families breaking up?

If it did, then it definitely deserves as long a sentence as murder. Indeed, an (attempted) financial crime of this magnitude is frequently worse than murder since it (potentially) has similarly devasting effects on a much wider set of victims.