The meme on the left is from Marlene Starkey Stevens.
My initial response was that this is wonderful news… but is it really? ThIs man was part of a crowd that killed at least one person during the insurrection… the attempted coup d’état, that took place at the Capitol on January 6th. If you or I were involved in a bank robbery, where weapons were used in the robbery, and during the process of trying to rob the bank, people get nervous, the crooks get jittery, and paranoid, which all culminates in someone getting shot dead. If you or I participated in the robbery, let’s say as the getaway driver, in court, we would be charged with a homicide, even though we weren’t in the bank when the victim was shot and killed. It’s guilt by association, which in some cases can seem a bit harsh, but in this case, when a gang of thugs… that’s what they were, storms a government building and at least one person dies as a result of the storming of that building, then every participant in the storming of that building would be guilty of a homicide, just as if they personally killed whoever died. But, in the case of the insurrection, that just hasn’t been the case, and I think it should have been. ‘Any law and the punishment when someone breaks a law, should not depend on how many people were involved in breaking the law. Whether it was one person robbing a bank where someone was killed, or fifty people, the punishment ,if fair, must be applied equally, and in the case of the insurrection, that just hasn’t been the case. \Marlene Starkey Stevense posted the following in response to my saying five years punishment wasn’t enough:
• “Judges are not bound by sentencing guidelines, but I think most of them stick to them. I just don't know why some of these people didn't get stiffer sentences. First offence, maybe? No rhyme or reason”.
And she’s right. Many times the judge in a case might want to give less or more time than the guidelines, but are bound by mandatory sentencing guidelines. As for me, the reason I believe many people get lesser sentences than one might feel they deserved is prison overcrowding. The United States’ current system just isn’t working because prison doesn’t rehabilitate, and in the majority of cases, doesn’t even try. Prison isn’t seen as a place to change… to learn new things, and grow as a person, it’s seen by many as a place for punishment, and that’s all.
Unless I’m mistaken, the United States has more prisoners per capita than any other industrialized country in the world, and it’s because not enough money and other resources are directed at rehabilitation, America’s prisons are always going to be overcrowded, and prisoners released due to overcrowding, because America’s prisons are designed for punishment only. Compound that attitude with the fact that now some prisons are private… well, that’s a recipe for failure and for cruel, unusual and barbaric events taking place inside America’s prisons… especially the private (for profit) prisons.
For what is supposed to be the greatest country in the world, when it comes to prison, we can be pretty barbaric. One perfect example is solitary. Solitary itself can be extremely harmful to a human, but add to that prison food… no freedom of any kind… for me, that’s cruel and unusual punishment, and if fact, solitary cane be considered as torture. Don’t take it from me… do the research on what solitary confinement does to those subjected to it. Go to YouTube and do a search for Juveniles in Prison and after watching some of those videos, I’m sure you’ll come away shaking your head and asking yourself just what the F… is wrong with us. If you don’t, well… you’re a lot stronger than I. 🙏