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Comment by selfishgene | Hacker News Reader

A speeding ticket or a disorderly conduct charge is very different from aiding and abetting sex-trafficking of minors.

Epstein was facing a life sentence in federal prison and forfeiture of an estimated $500 million estate for his crimes if you need help understanding the seriousness of them.

The law views aiding and abetting sex-trafficking just as seriously as the crime itself.

Some of us are still holding out hope that Prof. Nowak will serve some hard time behind bars for what he did. He has no shame, but apparently still quite a few apologists.

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> A speeding ticket or a disorderly conduct charge is very different from aiding and abetting sex-trafficking of minors.

You're missing the point. The crimes and the research are unrelated.

The fact that you consider this some kind of apologia for Nowak demonstrates that you are either unable or unwilling to understand. If Nowak tells you 2+2=4, are you going to say "No that must not be right, because you hung out with Epstein"?

No, I am not saying that at all here.

Given his complicity in Mr. Epstein's heinous crimes against humanity, Mr. Nowak now needs to start following a little of his own advice: donate all future research results to the world "anonymously" to avoid forcing victims of sexual assault to have to relive their traumas from the mere mention of this child rapist enabler's name or the sight of his lying face.

Is that clearer now?

If Nowak committed a crime, he should be tried - with rules of evidence, a jury of his peers and due process, and then punished according to the laws we enacted via our elected representatives. That is the appropriate venue for justice for crimes. Mob justice, shunning, harrassment via anonymous or pseduonymous reports on the Internet are not appropriate. Is that clearer now? You can relinquish your role as a self-appointed judge, jury, and executioner for people that someone told you did something bad. We have a whole system for dealing with that.

> We have a whole system for dealing with that.

Worked pretty well in the case of Epstein, didn't it?

That's why some of us are not going to shut up when it comes to holding Mr. Epstein's "enablers" accountable this time around, got it?

I'm sure Nowak is quaking in his boots that two people he's never heard of, nor ever will hear of are debating whether it's necessary to scrutinize a biography of an author in order to discuss their ideas. Truly, a fate worse than death. You sure showed him. I'll bet he thinks twice before committing the atrocious crime of lending someone an office again.

Honestly, I had never heard of who Nowak was, and I probably never would have if you hadn't brought it up. If your goal is to relegate him to obscurity, you're doing the opposite.

Looks like he's enjoying paid leave right now as a free man:

https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2020/5/2/epstein-review-n...

Axios is a reliable source for updates:

https://www.axios.com/jeffrey-epstein-mit-billionaire-favors...

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