“Context Is All”

This tendency to demand the the diminution of rights of or the worst possible punishment for people whose politics we disdain, who aren't part of our tribe, or who we otherwise find repugnant is how we get mass incarceration. Resist it.https://t.co/gjausokj54

— Radley Balko (@radleybalko) December 27, 2021

So if you start here, you get a string of tweets in which an actual criminal defense lawyer debates sentencing with the great unwashed who seem to be of the mind of a Vonnegut character (from “Cat’s Cradle,” if memory serves), who wanted criminals strung from lampposts with signs around their necks: “Momma, here’s your boy!”

It sends a message.
After a few dozen people get 20 years, appeals can be made for a reduced sentence. Besides, no Flight Attendant should ever need to wonder if an assault might take place.

I would lose zero seconds of sleep over her getting two decades.

— James Day (@JamesDa29102525) December 27, 2021

N.b. Sentencing does send a message, and the message is: “We can do what we want to you!”

Horowitz has a point in his fight on this thread:

Look at some of you bonkers people rn. Sociopathic. https://t.co/TvjGmp6sYw

— Daniel A. Horwitz (@danielahorwitz) December 27, 2021

But then if you follow this tweet:

Stop the “facing X years” madness.

“Prosecutors agreed to recommend four months in custody, six months of home confinement, a $5,000 fine and three years of community service.” https://t.co/5NWm8KW10Z

— Kevin Ring (@KevinARing) December 27, 2021

You find comments like this:

The fact that they have the absolute power to decide how long they can put you in prison is really scary! We are human beings and deserve to be treated as such. Guidelines are cruel and inhumane. We are not a number, we have a face.

— Alina Feas (@AlinaFeas) December 27, 2021

The majority of Twitter (or the intertoobs) may seem like an insane and evil place. But the majority is not the entirety.