I Am So Angry About This, I'm Seeing Stars

Read about it here: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/05/25/AR2006052500438.html

Short version: Man sexually assaults child. Man is only 5'1". Judge thinks man is too small to survive in prison. Man sentenced to 10 years probation. Famous last words of the judge: "I want control of you until I know you have integrated change into your life," the judge told Thompson. "I truly hope that my bet on you being OK out in society is not misplaced."

My thoughts:
The first message here is that you can get away with crap if you can show that prison would be detrimental to your health?!?! Maybe next time it'll be, 'Oh, I have asthma, I can't go to prison for robbing that bank and shooting that teller.'

The other message is 'we just put a pedophile back on the streets with no REAL way to keep him from molesting another child' in this nasty story. I hope that he merely used poor judgment with a 17 year old who looked 20, but I doubt it. It sickens me that this man is using his so-called weakness to get away with preying on the weakest members of our society!

Another quote from the oh-so-wise judge:
"You are a sex offender, and you did it to a child," she said.

But, she said, "That doesn't make you a hunter. You do not fit in that category."

I just have to wonder, 'What is her definition of a hunter?'

All I know is that I'm glad I don't live in Sidney, Nebraska where yet another pedophile is free with nothing more to stop him from striking again beyond 4 months of electronic monitoring. Great, just great.

M.W.

Update: Here's the story on ABC News (in case you need to be subscribed to the Washington Post in order to read the other one)

Update 2: The child in question was 12!!!!! 12!!!!! No slack should be cut for him! None!