In February 2006, Ryan Goldstein, Penn ’09, aided a New Zealand hacker, known as AKILL, in infiltrating the University’s computer system and crashing one of its servers. On Monday, Goldstein was finally sentenced for his crime, receiving 90 days in prison and a hefty $30,000 fine.

Still, what should have been a relatively simple open-and-shut case for U.S. District Judge Michael Baylson ended up being something more: the source of an ethical and moral dilemma concerning racism in the American Judiciary System.

The Philadelphia Inquirer explains:

Baylson, however, said he felt some jail time was necessary for Goldstein because the FBI also found more than 1,000 images of child pornography on his computer. Those victims, the judge said, were "unseen and unheard" in court yesterday.

[…] But the judge said he found it tough to sentence another man, Derrick Williams, 32, of Philadelphia, to a heavy prison sentence the same day for the same crime.

"It seems very unfair. . . . I want to note for the record that Mr. Goldstein is white and Mr. Williams is African American and that adds to my discomfort," said Baylson. Both men had roughly 1,000 images of child pornography on their computers, the judge said.

Thanks to his cooperation, Goldstein narrowly dodged child pornography charges. However, one must question the “fairness” of a system that allows one criminal to go free while another must serve time for the same crime.

Cooperation or not, Goldstein committed two unrelated crimes, so why was he granted complete immunity for the second?