I'm interested in opinions. Basically this guy downloaded 20 pics of child porn and received 20 10-year consecutive sentences. He appealed to the Arizona supreme court that it was "cruel and usunual punishment" which is covered in the 8th article of the Bill of Rights I believe. He lost that decision 4-1. I guess the only appeal left would be to the Supreme Court of the U.S., and they probably wont touch it.

I just think this is a horrendous punishment for a guy that all he did was download 20 pics of smut--which is some of the worst kind of smut. He didn't molest and kid, he didn't try to scandalize any kid, he didn't try to abduct any kid, etc. In fact he never got near any of the teens that were on his computer screen. As the article says you can get far less for 2nd degree murder and sexual assault of a child. I just think because of the sexual nature of this, people became hysterical. These kind of punishments seem to only exist to this degree in the state of Arizona. So, is 200 years excessive for this crime?

http://www.azstarnet.com/sn/hourlyupdate/128547.php

i think its just a tad excessive personally but you know how those wackos out in Arizona are.

I think its the heat.

He is going to be real popular once he gets that pink inmates uniform on....


A lot of things boggle the mind when it comes to the legal system. Like how can one of the guys who plotted the 9/11 attacks only get life in prison while some guys who kill one person get the death penalty? In reference to this particular case, I would like to see the guys taking the pics be the people who are getting the 200 years.

Yes it seems inequitable to me.

The only way, however, to erase inequities to use mandatory sentencing guidelines, thus taking away all discretion from the judges and juries. I don't like that either.

One inequity I see quite often is gender bias. If a man and a woman commit the same crime, he will almost always get a much harsher sentence. A few years ago we had a married couple commit a murder together. He got death, she got 10 years probation. Pled battered wife syndrome and agreed to testify. Still, she was swinging the hammer too.

So which do we prefer? Judge/Jury discretion which can lead to inequities, or mandatory sentencing guidelines which can also lead to inequities?

Hey Endzone, what do you think about shrinking that avatar?

i'm saying the same thing.

blah Wrote:Hey Endzone, what do you think about shrinking that avatar?

Sorry about the avatar fellows. I don't know how that happened. I didn't even change it last night. I just changed my signature. I'm only going to keep the flower up through Mother's Day.

I sincerely apologize, and I do not know how that happened.

EZ

OptimisticOwl Wrote:One inequity I see quite often is gender bias.

http://dnj.midsouthnews.com/apps/pbcs.dl...20322/1002

This happened about a half an hour away from where the Pamela Rogers incident. (She got a slap on the wrist for having sex multiple times with a student. Well, a slap on the wrist until she broke her probation.) This guy didn't touch the girl in any way. The results might be interesting.