Prison for the Costa Concordia crew?

[tbburg]

With the photographic moment in the salvage of the ship, the Costa Concordia is back on the front page for a bit. I was watching the news this morning, and Fox was covering what has been going on with the legal case against the crew.
It seems that the Captain is facing trial with charges that could bring a 20-year sentence, while five other members of the crew got plea deals including one year each, which the may not have to serve.

My question is, should he(the captain)or any of the others serve any prison time?
Yes there was criminal negligence, there's a wrecked ship to prove that, ans the captain is ultimately responsible, but what's the point of a prison sentence?
I always thought prison was first and foremost to keep the criminal away from society, second to punish the criminal, and third to offer a chance at rehabilitation and return to society.

In this case, none of these people offer any threat to society (They're not violent, and it's not like they're working in the shipping industry any more,..)
As for punishment, they can't be held financially liable for the grounding and subsequent sinking and deaths.
As to rehabilitation, no matter what they do, none of them will work in shipping again, so in that sense they can't be rehabilitated, nor will they be treated with anything but scorn.
So what would be the purpose?
Putting them in prison would only seem to serve the purpose of finding some single person to blame and punishing them for it. Seems kind of petty.

Thoughts?

 

[crimsondragon]

Politics really. They need someone's head on a stick and who better to do it than the crew?

 

[kastein]

From what I heard the captain was mostly responsible and completely abdicated his responsibility as captain during the aftermath.

I'm ok with him in prison... the rest of the crew I'm not so sure about.

 

[Lurch]

The captain of a ship is legally responsible for all occupants on board. In this case some of those occupants died due to his negligence. Not knowing the details of the case or what the charges are, it seems he would be guilty of manslaughter. In my opinion that deserves some sort of punishment greater than being blackballed from the maritime industry.

 

[blenny]

Prison serves as a deterrent, not a punishment. It would show others if they did something similar what they would face.

 

[joe_peters]

"As for punishment, they can't be held financially liable for the grounding and subsequent sinking and deaths."

IF the charge is CRIMINALLY NEGLIGENT (fill in the blank) then a prison sentence is the punishment. If someone wants FINANCIAL punishment then that would be a civil trial.

The "captain" should go to prison.

 

[bjoehandley]

The captain of a ship is legally responsible for all occupants on board. In this case some of those occupants died due to his negligence. Not knowing the details of the case or what the charges are, it seems he would be guilty of manslaughter. In my opinion that deserves some sort of punishment greater than being blackballed from the maritime industry.

My thoughts too, although 20 years is little more that 1 year per life lost, you'd think that he would deserve more than that.