The process is the punishment: Donald Trump receives sentence of "unconditional discharge" in New York state prosecution

I have just finished listening to today's hearing as part of the state court sentencing in Trump v. New York, at the end of which he received the expected sentence of "unconditional discharge."  The event was full of interesting elements and ironies (eg, Trump was given the sentence recommended by prosecution, and now can move forward with appeals).   If time and energy permits in the coming weeks, I may turn to the Sentencing Matters Substack for some longer commentary/reflection on this historic event. 

For now, I am just going to note that sentence imposed got me thinking about the title of a famous 1979 criminal justice book by Malcolm Feeley, "The Process is the Punishment: Handling Cases in a Lower Criminal Court."  One big theme of the book, as put in this linked summary, is that "the real costs to those accused of misdemeanors and lesser felonies are not the fines and prison sentences meted out by the court, but the costs incurred before the case even comes before the judge."  That theme came to mind when Trump began his statement to the court today by stating "This has been a very terrible experience."  I suspect that statement resonates with so many criminal defendants and their friends and family, and maybe even more than a few judges and prosecutors.