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417 points mkmk | 1 comments | | HN request time: 0.294s | source
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lacoolj ◴[] No.37600881[source]
Let's assume this turns out to be insider trading. Can someone shed a little insight on why this is worthy of a prison sentence?

To me, even if they used information they had and we didn't, I don't see who the "victim" of this crime would be. It truly sounds like a "but it's unfair" argument and I'd really like to know why I'm wrong here.

Thanks in advance

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1. smolder ◴[] No.37602632[source]
Just because the harm is socialized - spread across a large population - does not mean the harm is diminished or that the crime is victimless.

In some ways a crime like this is worse for not harming any particular person directly. First, because people often convince themselves that not having a clear victim means it's victimless and therefore okay, which is where your line of thought seems to be going. Second, because the lack of a clear victim means such crimes can go relatively unnoticed, unmitigated, and under-punished.

IMO, white collar crimes (and not just the explicitly illegal ones) are an insidious disease on society. The indirectness of the harm serves as a kind of camouflage against peoples moral judgement, but that's a failure of judgement. It's like falling for that trick that kids do where they spread their food all over their plate so it looks like they ate more of it.