An Eye for an Eye

Are you perplexed by strangely unjust sentences handed down by judges of late? Some are imprisoned for minor offenses, such as marijuana possession, while convicted sexual preditors may live right next door to you. What gives, anyway?

Lenny Cacchio has a good piece about justice, past and present:

Somebody! Help me understand this.

In Philadelphia a woman was thrown in jail because she couldn’t pay $120 in library fines. Notices from the library didn’t get to her because she had moved several times, including some stays at a battered women’s shelter.

Meanwhile, in Boston a judge sentenced a convicted rapist to probation, and he told the victim to “get over it”.

A terrorist is found with a carload of explosives and plan to blow up Los Angeles International gets 13 years in prison, just weeks after an octogenarian businessman gets life because stockholders lost lots of money when the company failed.

If our society wants send the message that money is more important than life and safety, our justice system certainly proves the point.

An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth might seem medieval these days, but upon examination such justice is anything but Neanderthal in its intent. It would solve discrepancies in sentences for such disparate crimes as library fines and sexual assault. Putting it in contemporary parlance, “eye for an eye” translates to “let the punishment fit the crime”.

Be sure to read the entire piece. It puts real perspective into the whole issue of justice meeted out justly.