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An Activist Judge Rapes Society

by John F. Tamburo, Editor in Chief, Publisher
Originally Posted: 1/5/2006 11:37:56 AM

In Vermont, a man convicted of repeatedly and mercilessly raping a girl over a span of years has been sentenced to sixty days in jail.  This is no typographical error.  This is no joke.  This is no cynical prediction of the future of American "Justice."  This is, sadly and sickeningly, true.  Michelle Malkin reports that the judge in this case, Edward Cashman, no longer believes that punishment works.  So he attempts to rehabilitate.  Never mind that Vermont has laws against this conduct that prescribe prison terms for this evil behavior.  The Judge thinks that he is smarter than the people, and he is imposing his own personal agenda upon the people of his state through his judicial activities.

"The character of the offense here, however, is a four year reign of rape starting when the victim was seven and the criminal was twenty-seven!  This person is a sexual predator and is a continuing danger to society.  Sixty days is not a slap in the face to Vermont, it is a punch in the gut."

If this were a situation where an 18-year-old high-school senior had consensual sex with a 16-year-old high-school junior, I could see sixty days, probation, or even no charges.  The character of the offense here, however, is a four year reign of rape starting when the victim was seven and the criminal was twenty-seven!  This person is a sexual predator and is a continuing danger to society.  Sixty days is not a slap in the face to Vermont, it is a punch in the gut.

I personally have a strong opinion of what society should do with sexual predators:  Life in prison, no parole, first offense.  The evidence shows that pedophiles cannot be successfully rehabilitated, and that punishment does not help them out.  I live in Illinois, which dances about the problem with a "civil commitment" process that locks these predators away after their statutory sentences have lapsed.  But the process is difficult to manage, and it has not withstood the last of the Constitutional challenges against it.  The entire process is best served by the several states defining sexual predation as:  1) Victim under 15 at any time any offense is committed; and 2) Offender over 20 at any time any offense is committed; or 3) Victim under 12 and offender over 16.  Then, those offenders get a one way trip to prison, where the key is thrown away.  No parole.

"Cicero has wisely said, ’The more laws, the less justice.’  I do not, however, think that justice suffers when we protect the innocent from reprobate predators, or from judges who think that they are better than the law they are sworn to uphold."

Cicero has wisely said, "The more laws, the less justice."  I do not, however, think that justice suffers when we protect the innocent from reprobate predators, or from judges who think that they are better than the law they are sworn to uphold.  Cashman told the courtroom: "The one message I want to get through is that anger doesn’t solve anything. It just corrodes your soul."  Why doesn’t Judge Cashman get that this is not about anger, it’s about protecting our children!  Doesn’t this judge have kids?  I do.  My wife and I constantly watch and protect them.  The reason we have to do this is because of the idea that prison terms are instruments of wrong anger, and not societal protection.

Judge Cashman has raped Vermont by giving the worst kind of criminal sixty lousy days.  Child rape is, in my opinion, worse than murder.  Its effects are lifelong and the trauma is horrendous.  Prison is not a revenge for this girl.  Prison protects other little girls from this predator!  A registered sex offender may repeat his or her offense.  Registration does not protect us.  If the offender is locked up, however, he or she has no access to anyone’s kids.

Unfortunately, the only way to stop this kind of judicial de-legislation is to set a mandatory sentence of life in prison without parole.  Will this prevent criminals to pleading guilty to a lesser offense?  Knowing the prosecutors in this country, probably not.  Some will deal, unless the law says that plea deals must be approved by the victim and/or his/her parents.  But, for those who plead or are convicted of these offenses, the permanent protection provided by a life-no-parole sentence will be worthwhile.  And it will stop the Cashmans of the world from flouting justice for ideological reasons.