The suggestions by Mr. DeSantis and Mr. Ramaswamy that Jan. 6 rioters and conspirators were being punished more harshly than people who participated in Black Lives Matter protests align with Republicans’ broader grievances that the federal justice system has been “weaponized” against conservatives.
But most of the Black Lives Matter protests in the summer of 2020, when the movement reached a peak, were peaceful.
Those who had been sentenced at the time of the A.P.
investigation had received prison terms of a little over two years on average.
But of the more than 1,100 cases related to Jan. 6, according to an NPR database, the median sentence for those who received prison time has been 120 days.
Persons:
Vivek Ramaswamy, DeSantis, Ramaswamy, Jan
Organizations:
Associated Press, NPR
Locations:
America, B.L.M