Should the fine have to fit the crime?

罚金是否应该与罪行相适应?

Planet Money

2025-10-25

25 分钟
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The U.S. Constitution famously outlaws “cruel and unusual punishments.” But there's another, far more obscure part of the Constitution called the Excessive Fines Clause, which basically says that the fine has to fit the crime. So far, the Supreme Court has been pretty mysterious about what that means. But for Ken Jouppi, the fate of his $95,000 plane hinges on it. Ken is a bush pilot. He used to run an air taxi service in Fairbanks, Alaska. In 2012, police caught one of Ken’s passengers with a six-pack of Budweiser in her luggage. Over that six-pack, Ken was convicted of bootlegging. As punishment, he was ordered to forfeit his $95,000 Cessna. The Supreme Court is now considering whether to take Ken’s case. And what’s at stake here is more than just a plane. Hanging in the balance is an increasingly popular — and controversial — business model for criminal justice. More on economics and the law: - Fine and punishment - The prisoner's solution - Paying for the crime - Rescues at sea, and how to make a fortune Pre-order the Planet Money book and get a free gift. / Subscribe to Planet Money+ Listen free: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, the NPR app or anywhere you get podcasts. Facebook / Instagram / TikTok / Our weekly Newsletter. Today’s episode was produced by James Sneed and Sam Yellowhorse Kesler with help from Luis Gallo. It was edited by Jess Jiang, fact-checked by Sierra Juarez and engineered by Ko Tagasugi Chernovin with help from Robert Rodriguez. Planet Money's executive producer is Alex Goldmark. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy
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  • This is Planet Money from NPR.

  • For many years, Ken Jopie ran his own little air taxi service up in Fairbanks, Alaska.

  • He called it Ken Air.

  • Most of the villages, the mining camps are totally remote.

  • The only way to get there is by air.

  • So, you know, everything that can be transported gets flown in.

  • Ken is a bush pilot.

  • He used to skim over the Alaskan wilderness in his Cessna Sky Wagon,

  • which is those little single propeller airplanes with just six seats.

  • The colors that I liked were blue and yellow.

  • The blue and yellow goes good together, so I had a blue and yellow stripe on it.

  • My name up on the tail.

  • Big cargo doors in the back and oversized tires so you can land on rough surfaces.

  • Pretty much anything you can imagine.

  • Ken has probably tried to jam it in the back of that Cessna at some point.

  • We're talking drums full of gasoline, a partially disassembled ATV, a moose from a hunting trip.

  • Once he had a whole team of sled dogs, like seven or eight of them just loose in the back.

  • And these were white dogs.

  • And when their nerves are shed, there was so much hair in that airplane,

  • I thought Eric Dogg was bald by the time we got where we were going.