teacher boffing student agian

[lumberjim]

If one guy robs a store to feed his children and another robs a store to buy crack cocaine, they should get the same punishment.

But do they? really?

the trials set the tone for the sentence. if a man desperate to feed a starving family expresses deep remorse for stealing during the trial, and the crack head just sits there drooling, looking like he'll do it again in a minute, do they get the same sentence? i dont think they do. jury's remember the connection they feel toward a defendant, and will mitigate their findings to suit, no? I mean that's why we have that word, MITIGATE, isnt it?

cat is saying that the fact that this went woman / boy is in itself a mitigating circumstance. i disagree with her on that, but just to be clear, not everyone gets the same sentence for the same crime in america.

[Radar]

I'm not saying everyone gets the same punishment for the same crimes in America. The legal system in America is very much geared in favor of women. The legal system should be blind to race, religion, gender, etc. It should punish all crimes equally regardless of motive.

Hate crimes are a perfect example of laws that need to go away immediately.

If a white man kills a black man because he caught him in bed with his wife, he will get far less prison time than a white man who kills a black man because he is a black man. The mans thoughts are being punished and this puts the police in the dangerous position of being the "thought police".

And if a black man kills a white man just for being white, he won't get as harsh a penalty as the white man would under similar circumstances.

The fact that people stupidly try to say the EXACT SAME CRIME committed by a woman and a man should be punished differently only shows that they have no regard for fairness or equality under the law. But these are usually the same people who would jump up and down and scream the loudest if they were on the losing end of one of these situations. If suddenlly courts started locking up women 5 times longer than men for the same crime, they would demand equality under the law. This is hypocritical to say the least.

These are the same people who tried to make excuses for Andrea Yates. This woman should have been lowered feet first into a woodchipper. She's pure evil.

I don't buy insanity as a defense, and I especially don't buy "temporary insanity". I don't care if someone is insane or not. If you murder people, too bad so sad, you've got to go away. If the person who did it is insane, fine, don't tell them it's an electric chair, tell them it's a roller coaster, strap them in and fire it up.

Ambiguity creates inequality under the law and causes a host of nightmare situations. We wouldn't be having this discussion if we were talking about a black male teacher versus a white male teacher. Why? Because the race of the person committing the crime is irrelevant and so is their gender.

[glatt]

Radar,
My post earlier wasn't a joke. Do you think there should be a difference in the punishment or determination of guilt for two people who crap on the sidewalk? Person A can't control themselves, and person B does it on purpose. Are they equally guilty?

[Radar]

Yes, they are equally guilty. But if they both pay for the cost of the cleanup, I don't see it as a problem.

If I have a child, or a dog, who takes a dump on the sidewalk, I'm responsible to clean it up. If I am an elderly person who doesn't have much control over my bowels I must do the same. And if someone does it just because they feel like it, they are equally responsible.

Some people just have a hard time comprehending the meaning of personal responsibility.