More Varsity Blues - Privilege and Perspective

So Felicity Huffman gets 14 days (see here and here) in the college admissions scandal. But there are problems with this -

1. 14 days serves no real punishment purpose.   It is not the prison time that will deter her in the future.  The general deterrent and rehabilitation was accomplished the minute she was indicted.  The indictment in this case served that purpose because it stigmatized her and her family and brought their then-current lives to a crushing halt.  The 14 days is a token to society that only costs the taxpayer money with no benefit. It was unnecessary here.
2.  Should she have gotten more time?  Absolutely not. As stated above this public shaming was more than sufficient and one can only hope that she and her family can rise above this event and move on in a positive way to assist society. Your mother loves you - forgive her and be there for her. 
3.  Is the sentence an acknowledgement of disparity in the criminal justice system?  Definitely yes.  Accused individuals who are poor or minorities can suffer significantly greater consequences. There are too many examples of this to even mention.  This case highlights the disparity in our judicial system and for that alone, courts should go back and resentence those who received greater sentences for less activity - and reduce their sentences. The case was supposed to punish privilege but ends up acknowledging that privilege matters. This is no fault on the part of the sentencing judge - it is a problem of how society treats criminal justice. I applaud the judge for not giving a harsher sentence.
4.  This case brought forth improprieties in college admission testing and admissions. This needs serious reevaluation. In the corporate criminal sphere - a rogue employee can sometimes still hold the entity liable. Although, there is no criminality here, nor should there be, hopefully admissions testing processes will go through massive re-evaluation, not only on how they are administered, but also on the value of these exams.    
5.  Was there a better way to handle all of this?  Yes. If prosecutors had proceeded on correcting this unethical conduct by exposure - a report - and sending a message to all that privilege in national testing will not be tolerated, then stopping this unethical conduct could have been accomplished.  Using a broken criminal justice system to attempt to correct this process just ends up showing how broken the system really is.
6. The individual who brought in so many parents into this scheme deserves stiff punishment.  Giving cooperator status to the individual who promoted this unethical conduct is backwards.  The parents who were roped into this scheme, oftentimes of their free will, should be the ones testifying here. If you want to stop the criminal conduct, punish the party who made the crime possible.  
7. Bottom line - what were the parents all thinking - really?  The criminal justice system is not the answer to the problem here. 

(esp)

See also excellent op-ed -David Oscar Marcus, Felicity Huffman's 14-Day Sentence is Unjust - Because It's Too High, The Hill, here.