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Hundreds of crimes, little punishment: Inside the sentences since the Capitol attack

Politico: “This is a living database that will be updated weekly with new sentencing information, analysis and data throughout 2022. More than 150 people have pleaded guilty to storming the Capitol on Jan. 6, but relatively few defendants have received prison time for their role in the insurrection. A POLITICO analysis of every sentence to date in the Capitol riot shows that judges have been wary about imposing long prison terms except when violence, or the threat of it, was involved. A little over half of defendants who have pleaded guilty are still awaiting sentencing, and some of the most serious cases of violence against police officers are still awaiting their fate, so the length of prison time for the most serious offenders may change. See the full database.
Additional sentencing hearings are booked for the early months of this year, and many more are expected to be added as defendants reach plea deals with prosecutors or are found guilty at trial. There are more than 700 people who have been arrested for crimes tied to the assault on the Capitol and investigations are still ongoing, and roughly one-tenth of those — 71 — have been sentenced as of Jan. 1. While these numbers represent just a fraction of the criminal cases to date, they have already become a template for future sentences — a foundation that is likely to solidify further as more and more cases reach their conclusion. Here are several takeaways from the past year of sentences. Of the 70-plus people who have been sentenced, fewer than half have received prison time for their actions in the days surrounding the riot. That’s in part because many of those sentenced so far were only convicted of illegally entering the Capitol building, and were not involved in the more violent and destructive aspects related to storming the building. Only seven defendants have been sentenced for felony charges, as of late December. Among those defendants who are being incarcerated, their stints in prison are often somewhat brief. The median prison sentence to date is 45 days…”

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