Criminals, no matter how serious the crimes they committed, should get a punishment in accordance with their crimes. This is something many agree on and is a basic human idea, but why are there now so many people supporting a criminal who has not been and probably will never get a punishment suitable to her crime?

I am speaking about Hillary Clinton, and while her email scandal has been going on for quite some time, new information has come to light that makes me question her right to run for president of the United States and the public’s willingness to turn a blind eye to her past debaucheries.

Recent polls have shown Clinton and Trump being the potential 2016 Democratic and Republican nominees, but we should really be asking ourselves whether Clinton should be in the running after her questionable behavior involving her email scandal. However, the big question regarding her actions is whether they make her eligible to serious charges, as they would if she was an average person.

Her actions make her a criminal, not careless. Clinton knew what she was doing when she allowed secret government emails to be sent from her personal email. The fact is not whether she was sending these emails to people who were not authorized to receive them but that she violated government protocol, which created an opportunity for government sensitive information to be hacked. To allow a criminal to potentially become president is ridiculous. I would much rather have someone of clear conscious be elected than one who cannot be trusted.

Clinton’s main violation during the scandal cannot be seen as careless since, according to the New York Post, the Federal Bureau of Investigation is investing Clinton’s inner circle because of serious allegations that those members transferred information from the government’s classified network to Clinton’s private email, as of the end of January.

Around the same time, Wall Street Journal journalist Michael B. Mukasey said the server that was used to hold these important emails showed records of her disregarding government procedures. One example was when Clinton directed a member of her staff to change the heading on a classified piece of information, converting it so it could be sent on a device that was not secure enough to hold high levels of classified information.

Those facts not only show her carelessness but also solidify that she needs to be held responsible for her actions. Allowing her to be in the running for president of the United States does not do so. 

Recently, 22 emails we know were classified government information were put onto her private email, which leaves those sensitive pieces of government information able to be leaked.  

Releasing government information is not illegal, but the only types of information that are not protected under under the Freedom of Information Act enacted in 1967 pertain to personal privacy, national security and law enforcement. The releasing of any of Clinton’s emails to the public would be a violation of FOIA because at least a few of those emails were about national security.

We have proof that Clinton released this information, and mishandling classified information is open to prosecution, said Andrew C. McCarthy, an attorney from southern New York. Why hasn’t Clinton been prosecuted for the crimes she has obviously committed?

Clinton is from an elite group in our society that rarely gets punished for any wrong doing. Saying she’s one of us and that she knows what we go through is a lie. Her email act was criminal, and while she may have harsh critics, you know that if one of us, the average person, did something even remotely similar, we’d be in jail in a heartbeat.