Who says Michael Fay was mistreated. He plea bargained his way to a very light sentence. In fact, he was guilty of many more acts of vandalism than were reported in the press. He was also guilty of stealing and receiving stolen goods.
The original sentence of six strokes was reduced to four after President Clinton's appeal.
To be fair, Michael took his caning well and apart from an appearance on The Larry King Show, kept his mouth shut. He was a good looking guy which probably accounted for a certain amount of sympathy. A lot of people at the time wondered why he didn't go on to make money from writing a book and/or making a film. Maybe the reason was he knew he had got off very lightly.
A Chinese guy of about the same age as Fay was sentenced to twelve strokes of the cane for taking part in the same acts of vandalism.There were no charges of theft in his case. He wasn't offered the chance of a plea bargain but his sentence was reduced to six strokes on appeal. He was caned and also took his punishment well.The difference between him and Michael was that in his case, there was almost no publicity given to his sentence and subsequent caning. Surprisingly, public opinion in America was largely in favour of the sentence being carried out. Many people, including several Senators, were hoping to introduce similar punishments in The States but they fell foul of the politically correct who campaign against corporal punishment.

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