I agree with Ebbie. However, a serial killer would most likely get life without the possibility of parole same as Madoff, as would anyone who murdered in cold blood.

When you have very elderly people, one, at least, in his 90s we are led to believe, who have to go back to work to earn enough money to live on, then the perpetrator of that crime should be treated harshly.

Most murders are heat of the moment and it is unlikely that the person would repeat the act. That, to me, is very different from someone who deliberately carries out a scheme to enrich himself beyond a normal person's wildest dreams and at the expense of so many people. Madoff is where he belongs - he played the game and, in the end, he lost.