[wickedbass]

While it is nice that she is passing blame to Congress, if it were only a "6 month low security setting" being discussed, why wouldn't Aaron have been told of this? Why the additional and ultimately 13 felony charges when he was MOST concerned with not being labled a felon. Why hold that 50 year sentence above his head with no HOPE in his own mind because he was left in the dark. "As a parent and sister", would you want your child to be stranded for two years with the full weight of the federal government and their impending punishment upon you hidden behind a dark veil? As a human, I both recognize that she is probably saddened and shocked that he took his life (and probably freaking out bc of the white house petition), but at the same time, it's clear that this shouldn't be allowed to happen, so if it means she loses her job - tough luck.

[corporalagumbo]

When cops come across otherwise nice young white guys who believe themselves invulnerable or above the law and are doing stupid, impulsive things, their usual practice is to "scare them straight." So they get tough on them, tell them all of the awful consequences they're in for, put them in a horrible, cramped cell, maybe throw them in with some real nasty characters, and, above all, get their parents involved.

It's a form of kindness. If you make them crush their self-confidence and make them feel like shit, they learn their lesson. They lose that blithe self-confidence and begin to realise they have to play by the same rules as everyone else. And then, they will hopefully turn into constructive, positive-minded members of society.

The practice varies with the character of the kid, the ugliness of their crime, etc. I'm not saying this is what Ortiz and co were thinking with Aaron necessarily but I wouldn't be surprised if it was an element. Aaron's behaviour was very removed from the situations I'm talking about, so the participants and response was very different. But he sounds like quite an... intense person, so maybe they decided they needed to put a lot of pressure on him to crush his spirit.

Of course, usually the kids don't kill themselves - but then usually it's not the justice department slapping them on the wrist. They should have realised that people like Aaron are very fragile. I won't apologise for that. A more delicate touch was required, because this outcome is just awful and a disaster for all parties. A real shame. But I do want to point out that their actions in frightening him were not necessarily without reason.

By the way, I have spent a night in a cold concrete cell sobering up and feeling like the world's biggest idiot. My escapade cost me $2700 and a lot of self-respect, and though it was awful at the time I am thankful and realise I learned my lesson very economically. Hearing Aaron's story is really painful.

[wickedbass]

Hey, I recognize what you're saying and agree with it. I too have been in that unfortunate and TERRIBLE cold cell once in my life and know what it feels like to have your freedom stripped from you (and mine ended up costing 10k+ in the end).

No one will ever know why Aaron killed himself fully, and that is unfortunate. Most of us only learned of him fully through his suicide. When I watch youtube videos of the guy, he seems so damn intelligent, eloquent, literate... It's hard to imagine that he wasn't smart enough or brave enough to truly ask the community for help.

That all said, one of the main things I've learned through my own past escapades and more so through tragic news like this, is that the justice system is inherently fucked up. It is designed to destroy the plaintiff. I have lived through this and it was the most miserable experience of my life (thanks ex gf I used to love for 5 years). Once you are in the 'system', or they are after you, if they have a reason (in their own mind), you are fucked.

Unless you are a multi-millionaire who can afford to pay your way out, and even still, you're most likely getting fucked from one direction or the other.

I think that is what this entire thing boils down to. Overreach of the Federal Government. Punishment does not fit the alleged and unconvicted crime.

Aaron might have had depression issues (a whole different beast in itself), but from all the empirical evidence available to the public, it seems like he was truly pushed into a corner and a high risk for suicide - and unfortunately he fulfilled that presumption.

I hope we as a society can learn from this.

[jacquesm]

> It's hard to imagine that he wasn't smart enough or brave enough to truly ask the community for help.

He did.

[corporalagumbo]

Thanks for the thoughtful response. My experience is with the New Zealand legal system so I should probably not be commenting on the American situation in the first place. I'm sure you know these issues much better than me.

[vidarh]

> If you make them crush their self-confidence and make them feel like shit, they learn their lesson. They lose that blithe self-confidence and begin to realise they have to play by the same rules as everyone else. And then, they will hopefully turn into constructive, positive-minded members of society.

I don't believe there's any evidence at all that this on average has the intended effect. If there is, I'd love it if someone has a reference.

[hamai]

Problem is Aaron wasn't the average kid. He had enemies, and he was a major annoyance to people wanting to tame the Internet.

[corporalagumbo]

Who were his enemies? I'm interested. Do you think the US justice dept was acting as an organ of these would-be tamers?

[hamai]

Aaron was founder of Demand Progress, organization that actually fought laws like PIPA/SOPA, and many other things, and the laws didn't pass.

This is a list of campaigns by Demand Progress: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demand_Progress#Campaigns

[sociotech]

If you think US Attys prosecute people because they organize peacefully against copyright laws, you're living in a different world from the real one.

[hamai]

USA requested the extradition of a young student[1] from UK over copyright laws, for sharing links. UK Home Secretary approved the order and the outrage ran the world. Without the attention the story got that young student would be in an American jail today.

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_O%27Dwyer

[jacquesm]

Check out Aarons involvement in setting the PACER data free.

[colin_jack]

"so maybe they decided they needed to put a lot of pressure on him to crush his spirit."

Isn't that maybe where proportionality comes in though?

It seems like they did indeed put on enough pressure to crush his spirit but maybe what they needed to do was give him a little wake up call/warning.

[sociotech]

"If it were only a '6 month low security setting' being discussed, why wouldn't Aaron have been told of this?"

He was told. If you can even imagine that he wasn't, you need better news sources. This kind of anti-reality nonsense sounds an awful lot like Tea Party conspiracy crap. To effectively critique the law, everyone needs to learn how it works.