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Comment by bruceb | Hacker News Reader

The filing said that Bankman-Fried's Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) would make him "uniquely vulnerable" in prison, noting that he "has an exceptional IQ, but difficulty with conventional styles of communication, especially around emotion."

Do lawyers get embarrassed when writing stuff like this? He made no shortage of public appearances. He is also going to most likely serve in a lower security facility.

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Lawyers are obligated to do whatever they can for their clients. I really don't understand why people get mad about this stuff or about defense lawyers who defend people like murderers. Even if we know someone 100% did it, giving people fair representation and trial is part of the moral framework we use to put these monsters in prison.

No problem with lawyer representing client. In this case make client look worse as we know its BS and might even bring him a worse sentence.

as we know

What "we" think we know isn't really relevant here, it's the court that decides the sentence with a process a lot more convoluted than 'this sounds like bs to me'.

Prisons across the US are filled with inmates with varying degrees of mental health concerns. (That's a larger discussion, but for this single case, we have to limit our conversation to the status quo) If he's vulnerable, there are a variety of protective custody options available in an incarcerated setting.

No, I think they actually are proud of this. It's like a creative exercise.

It's the equivalent of getting DOOM to run on stuff that barely counts as a computer. It's an exercise of bending the law as much as logically possible without being outright illegal.

Sentences over 20 years are obligated to be at medium security facilities or higher.

ASD just does justify harsher sentences. It does not justify lesser sentences either. It should have no effect at all. For example, psycopaths who cannot feel empathy do not receive harsher or lesser sentences because of it.

The 100-year recommendation is appropriate, IMO. It gives Kaplan more support to set the number wherever he pleases. Whether it's 5 years or 50 years.

Autistic people have emotions and empathy, but even if we didn't, medical history shouldn't be used as justification to give harsher sentences.

Typo. First sentence should read: "ASD does not justify harsher sentences."

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