Crime does not fit the punishment
My response to a Seattle PI article from the AP wire, “Boy who talked way onto airlines now a felon”. < http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/388003_runaway15.html >. November 14, 2008.
So why not punish the boy, as you should have initially, by putting him in juvenile detention? Why is it, when those in power screw up, they react with an irrational jerk that unintentionally creates an even bigger problem than the one initially to be confronted and solved as a requirement of the job they are being handsomely paid to do?
When I initially saw this, I thought, the kid would have a harsh punishment for a stupid act, but would then have this non-violent, yet stupid past, erased as he matured in life (sealed once he turned 18). Now, because the courts felt ashamed for being called out due to their mistake in not initially holding this boy accountable for his crime, they are happy with punishing this little brat by ruining any chances for this thug to live a normal life.
Juvenile detention is supposed to rehabilitate a young mind before the point-of-no-return level of adulthood has been reached, where a person is basically unable to be rehabilitated. This kid still had the opportunity to learn from his mistake and move on once he became a responsible adult. This opportunity has been negated by a judge who saw it; one could only rationalize, as a personal responsibility to show this little punk whose boss. Why now would this throw-away attempt to change, when his future has already been sealed? I don't know Mr. Judge, where's the normative aspect of this holding? He is a kid, so shouldn't there be reasoning for changing one's ways in coming to this holding? I've seen young murders, rapists and kidnappers get more leniency! Those teenage girls who kidnapped a fellow student, then beat the crap out of her, while video-taping the whole thing will most likely go to jail, then be released at eighteen, with their records sealed. Will anyone argue me on this?
What the kid did was wrong; failing to hold him accountable for his actions was the fault of the courts, not the kid. To now correct their mistake by condemning the future for this kid, when we have a court system in place, which has been designed to rehabilitate lost children like this one...well, that is inexcusable and unjust. We elected our first African-American president, but America will not change overnight. Life is still very unfair for a lot of us who look differently or who choose to live an alternative lifestyle. There is still much work to be done, to fix what is still wrong with America.
This judge needs to rapidly mature by not stroking his ego to prove he’s a man, at the expense of a child, or simply retire so none of the rest of our children fall in sight of this mistake for a judge. Those who have historically held positions of power, still hold those positions at our local levels, the levels that still affect us most in our daily lives.
I do not wish to put water on your parade America, but there is still much work to be done, to fix what is still wrong with America. Those of us who have been vigilant in the past (Pre-Obama), must continue our work, so many of our children do not parish in the night. We can't turn back, we must continue moving forward, we can, we can, we will...
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