Obscanity: You'll know it when you see it

Judges Plead Guilty in Payoffs for Jailing Youths – NYTimes.com.

Yeah, you read that correctly – the judges received kickbacks in exchange for sentencing teenagers to serve time in private juvenile detention centers. What the hell have we come to as a nation when kids are sold into months of imprisonment for such minor infractions as setting up a spoof MySpace profile (with a disclaimer) of her school’s vice principal?

I’ve seen calls for a steeper punishment for these judges, who will be serving about 87 months (a little over 7 years) for their crime. If that was their only punishment, I would say it is not harsh enough. But the judges will be disbarred (meaning they cannot work as lawyers or judges again), and will lose their pensions (a harsh blow considering they’re damned near retirement), and will presumably be vulnerable to countless civil law suits on behalf of the kids who were detained. It seems like the punishment is fitting the crime, in a way – they imprisoned these kids for financial gain, and instead they face financial ruin. Seems appropriate to me! Just like the kids who were only imprisoned for a short time but will be dealing with the ramifications forever, these guys will get to reap what they sowed for years after they serve their prison terms.

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