Offense levels and sentence length for nonviolent victimless offenses involving drugs or money, carry far longer and harsher sentences than for crimes of violence and victim loss. You will pay ten-fold on that offense if you return to court at a later date. A spousal argument or driving while intoxicated could put the new federal defendant in federal no-frills prison until he or she dies. Suspended sentences are also counted. That long ago brush with the law, may be the seed of a federal life sentence without the possibility of parole.
Many federal defendants plead guilty and get the surprise of their life pun intended.
It is a common practice for state police and prosecutor, unhappy with the sentence of the defendant in state court, to dismiss the case and go across the street to get an easier federal indictment on the same defendant for the same offense but for a ten or twenty-fold increase in penalty. State citizens, including those with prior state arrests, convictions, and any recorded brush with the law, need to be very aware of the current lengthy and lifelong imprisonment statutes and guidelines in the state and federal code books. In Lompoc federal penitentiary there are hundreds of prisoners with life sentences for nonviolent, victimless conspiracy offenses involving alleged drugs or money laundering without prior offense or arrest. State citizens, men and women, ex-felon or not, may well be the next federal lifelong prisoner for a hearsay conspiracy unless swift action is taken in the next elections in 1998 and the year 2000. Statistically, someone in every family will go to prison under the current political race to incarcerate.