It’s a bad habit, reading the paper. Your head ends up full of information, if given a second or two to process, recognizes the injustices our society continues to exhibit.
In the old days, judges represented the people, the society, so through their sentencing of convicted criminals, they were making ongoing statements about the values of the society. Judges are allowed latitude in sentencing guidelines for circumstances that may not appear in the newspaper. Still those guidelines and the standard sentence for various crimes represent the true values, not the hype, of what a society values. For this reason, many believe that premeditated murder is the worst crime and that death is appropriate. Everything else is up for negotiation. Despite all the media rhetoric about protecting children, children are our future, each individual is valuable, the sentencing pedophiles to help protect children clearly isn’t as much a priority as protecting property , because the pedophile sentences are not as harsh as those give to burglars.
Yesterday’s paper, Region & State, Page 5, Judicial Briefs: 3 cases, 3 judges.
Case 1
23 year-old man pleads guilty to multiple commercial & residential burglaries. The sentence: $4,000 restitution + fines, 20 years in prison.
Case 2
25 year-old man pleads guilty to commercial burglary (netting $400), high-speed chase with multiple collisions and one injury. The sentence: $10,000 restitution + fines, 20 years +10 years suspended for the burglary, and 3 – 15 year sentences from the chase & collisions and personal injury collision. A total of 65 years +10 years suspended.
Case 3
25 year-old man pleads guilty to more than 3 years of continual rape of a minor (from age 7 to 10 or 11) and threatening her to stay quiet about the rapes. The sentence: On a reduced charge of “second-degree sexual assault on a girl” in exchange for a guilty plea, SIX YEARS.
This might be a good place for a closing comment, but the situation pretty much says it all.
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