In NSW if you have been charged with driving offences the average prison sentence is two and a half months, for robbery and extortion you can expect to receive a penalty of approximately two years, homicide is around a year, and if you were to be charged with murder you can expect to be imprisoned for 12 years.
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So what would it take for you to receive two life sentences?
In May this year a man named Ross Ulbricht, better known by his online pseudonym, “Dread Pirate Roberts”, was sentenced to two lifes in prison for his part in running the Silk Road, a now inoperable website - once the ‘eBay’ of illegal drugs.
The purpose of the site was to allow buyers and sellers to operate with near-perfect privacy and anonymity. The irony of the enterprise was that the site was enforced by rules and reputational incentives that rewarded honest dealings.
Since Ulbricht’s conviction in May, comments have been pouring in describing the punishment as too harsh and the sentence unjustified.
In Ulbrichts defence he described the website as a much safer drug marketplace, claiming that there is no need for guns and violence when selling methamphetamines through a mailing system - disregard the fact that the Silk Road sold assassin and hitman services.
Another of his defences was that they were going to get the drugs anyway, why not provide the services in a safe and trusted place. This argument may also be contrived to range to other drug smugglers and dealers, opening the gates to free drug trade as long as it is safe and organised?
He romanticised about prospering in a lawless sphere; to govern a space free from government. He began running a forum for libertarian attitudinizing, a place where he believed he was taking back liberty and dignity and demanding justice. It isn’t surprising that those critics of current government standards are portraying Ulbricht as a martyr.
In a journal entry he wrote: “The idea was to create a website where people could buy anything anonymously, with no trail whatsoever that could lead back to them.”
He wanted to foster “a brand that people can come to trust and rally behind”.
In today's world of technology, everything seems available at the click of a button, the propensity of the Silk Road isn’t surprising given the current stage of technological development and ideological differences.
Personally, I don’t believe Ulbricht was harshly sentenced, those who have ever done any Java scripting know that it is a long and arduous task, time for him to reflect on what he was creating.
One of the more pressing concerns to me is that by creating such a space he has consequently made three things apparent. The first, he has created a new market that has never existed before. Secondly, his actions have forced governments to look more harshly at internet security, adding fuel to the fire of the government playing ‘Big Brother’. Lastly, he has opened the floodgates for copycat traffickers and Silk Road experimentalists to create their own space.
