Thursday, December 03, 2009

U.S. v. Kuo (9th Cir. - Dec. 3, 2009)

Want to see a case where I'd have probably been much harsher in imposing a sentence than the district court? Here you go.

It's a sex slave trafficking case, involving defendants who imprisoned women in American Samoa and forced them to engage in prostitution. The facts are pretty grisly. So much so that even though the case was about restitution, and not about the length of incarceration, I went back and looked it up.

Five years. Which, in my view, defendants were pretty darn lucky to get.

There are lots of crimes for which I have extremely little sympathy. Violating the Thirteenth Amendment is one of 'em.