Ask HN: Being incarcerated for 60 days for a victimless, non violent crime | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: Being incarcerated for 60 days for a victimless, non violent crime

18 pointsthrwawayinc31 comments

What do I do for my SaaS (collaboration) with no customers yet (should be accepting payments, integrating with Stripe by end of this month)? I have 2 contractors that could fix issues that could come up.

View on HN

I've never been to prison, but I read quite a bit about inmate culture and experiences. A few words of advice:

- Don't gamble.

- Don't trust anyone, no matter how friendly they are.

- Don't accept "free" stuff.

- Stand up for yourself, no matter the situation.

- Respect deeply other people, but don't lower your status.

- Mind. your. business. and expect other inmates to do the same.

Sorry if they sound terribly cliché.

We had motto in the Scouts: Estote Parati, "Be prepared". Read the bio and experiences of past inmates. You don't want to look scared and in culture shock mode when you get in. Wolves smell the lack of self-respect.

Why the downvote? I know I didn't answer his original question, but I was worried for the OP. If you think I gave bad advice, explain why.

He's going to jail for 60 days, not prison. Jail is usually a county lockup half full of people serving time for crimes similar to the OP. Usually, less than 1 year sentences.

There are certainly groups you should avoid, but the majority of the people in our local jail are just normal people who got caught with a little marijuana, or racked up too many DUIs. In other words, they're a lot like the OP. IMO, there's no need for alarm when going to jail.

not a fan of the "downvote if you disagree" culture that is going on around here. I've been to jail and would agree with that.

only thing I wouldnt agree with is stand up for yourself no matter what. there are times when walking away just works. sometimes people just want to be the alpha, and the smart thing to do (many times) is to let them do that.

Thank you. I did appreciate your inputs.

This sounds like good advice, even when not in jail.

In your position, I would: - Tell my co-founders about what happened. They'd already know well before the sentencing and we'd already have a plan in place in-case I did have to serve time. In any case, I'd tell them what happened and we'd have to figure out how to continue things without me, what will happen in the meantime and how I'll rejoin the team when I come back. Pretty much everything would be up for discussion at this early stage.

Tying up loose ends and closing up shop for a couple of months would not be out of the question.

Best wishes!

You should disclose to any partner or investor, it would come up on a background check anyway and hiding it would look worse than whatever your offense is, most likely. As for your customers, it's none of their business. Not a lawyer, this isn't legal advice, pure intuitive response. Hope everything works out and you get back on track.

I did something remarkably stupid in the past. It's got to be disclosed first thing, right away.

The past is now forever.

Don't launch yet. Or 'unlaunch'.

Can you elaborate?

I'd basically park everything until you're out and can really dig in 100%. You don't want to be going viral or getting publicity or anything like that when you are unable to handle it. If you can, I suppose I'd bite the bullet and get it over with as quickly as possible.

You'd be giving your startup the best chance if you're in a position to pore over analytics and rapidly bring in improvements based on user experiences, and you can't do that while you're in jail! If you could delay your "media launch" until you get out that'd probably be the best strategy.

I have about another month and a half to start my sentence. And that's what I wanted to focus on for efforts for my startup. Initial feedback from users/visitors are already incorporated. We have used the service ourselves in developing the product (for about 6 months), and have a bunch of usability issues already uncovered. I agree that the "media launch" should be delayed.

Can you tell us what you did? it is a throwaway

Failure to file tax returns.

Ouch... Out of curiosity, how many did you skip and the magnitude of payments that you missed?

I would be very interested in this as well.

I understand that no single person was harmed specifically, but that's not 100% a victimless crime.

Other people's tax dollars went toward uncovering your failure, investigating you, filing charges, taking you through the court system, and then incarcerating you. That probably required far more money than you owed in taxes in the first place.

I don't think you understand the term victimless crime. By your definition no crime is a victimless crime since all crime costs money to investigate.

The 'victim' is society at large, I guess. Imagine a country with 5 people, where 1 of them doesn't pay their share of taxes. Everyone else is that much poorer in terms of money available to spend on public projects.

Or: imagine if no one paid their taxes.

Jail time sounds kind of harsh where a fine might do, but we don't know the details, and that's not what the person is asking about anyway.

Taxation is theft!

Imagine a country of 5 people where 3 of them thought they were allowed to break into the home of the other 2 and take whatever they wanted and spend it on whatever they wanted.

But back to the OP, "failure to file taxes" usually can be settled for a fine. It seems unusual for jail. (Even though I know that taxation is theft, I still do what the crazy people with the guns insist I do.)

That a person holds an opinion contrary to yours with regard to what constitutes a victimless crime in no way implies a lack of understanding. In the case of tax evasion it simply is a manifestation of a different set of values in regard to citizenship and the role of government.

ok. So shouldn't "we" the people, incarcerate those who tracked this failre, investigated, filled charges, processed thru the court system and incarcerated, for the money so ill-spent?

No. "We" (society) have decided to spend money to create consequences for breaking our laws. (Whether or not they're good laws is a separate issue.)

So as citizens who don't want to be murdered or stolen from, the investigation/incarceration/etc. is a service being provided to us. In this case, you could debate how serious failure to pay taxes is, but as someone who pays his taxes, I still don't want someone else to avoid the same burden.

There certainly have been societies without police or a civilian legal system, and there was a lot of violent crime (and very little of what we would call justice) in those societies. The Roman Republic is one example.

Likely a second (third, etc) conviction for possession of pot.

Tell everyone who has a stake, including contractors, then push out the launch and try to pick up the pieces.

I have about a month and a half to self report to start the sentence. I guess, I was wondering if I can do something productive for the business that could sustain my 60 day absence.

Felony or misdemeanor? Makes a BIG difference, especially if your business is accepting payments.