A new round of anger and outcry came immediately when Paul Manafort, the former Trump campaign chairman, was sentenced Wednesday to three and a half years in prison, far less than the 10 he could have gotten. That was on top of less than four years in a separate but related case in which sentencing guidelines had recommended between 19 and 24 years.

After Mr. Manafort’s punishment in the first case was announced, lawyers and advocates for leniency in sentencing guidelines flooded television and social media with examples of people who had been handed far longer prison terms for less serious crimes.

In one widely circulated post on Twitter, Scott Hechinger, a public defender in Brooklyn, wrote: “For context on Manafort’s 47 months in prison, my client yesterday was offered 36-72 months in prison for stealing $100 worth of quarters from a residential laundry room.”

In their attempts to add perspective, critics of current sentencing practices raise questions that resonate. Here are some answers.