just one year on supervised release in Ireland for almost burning down the house ?
In the USA he would get 3-5yrs minimum...we have twice the number of people in prison @ 2.2mil than China with 4 times our population and another 5mil currently on supervised status in the parole system for a total of 7mil approx in the court prison systems.
started going exponential in 1981, just alcohol related incidents cost the state of Virginia for instance over $1bil a year . Law & Order was a huge political currency in 1980s under Reagan into the early 1990's , guess one could call it a success for the private prison sector .<bg http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Incarceration_in_the_United_States