Milken, Bakker: What About Victims?

Recently, former financier Michael Milken was moved from the “country club” federal pen to a halfway house in Los Angeles. In March, after less than two years in custody, he will be free. Former television evangelist Jim Bakker will be free soon, too.

But for the victims of their crimes--the small investors who lost so much money in the junk bond tragedy spawned by Milken, and the faithful followers who believed that the work of God was carried out faithfully by Bakker--they are not free.

We always forget about the crime victims, their lost money and their emotional suffering. Unknown tens of thousands or more of Milken and Bakker victims see by these soft sentences the inequity of American jurisprudence.

What a shame that for Milken and Bakker, the punishments surely did not fit the crimes, that the powerful and infamous can buy their way out. If this is the message we are sending to our youth in these troubled times, we can only imagine what the future may hold in store for America.

PAUL N. YOUNG

Los Angeles

The writer is chief executive officer of Securities Arbitration Group Inc. in Los Angeles.