I will delurk for a moment. The sentence of 6-10 years for the hockey dad disappointed me, but for the opposite reason - I thiught the sentence was a tad severe, I would have gone 2-4. The dude was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter, not premeditated murder, and a part of the pre-sentence report would include scoring on the degree of guilt, responsibility, and remorse that the convicted dude felt. As well, while it was not a factor in the verdict, it would be a factor in the sentence that the victim had a history of violence and attacking other people. So we did not have a big bad bully stalking and klling an innocent victim; we had two hot heads who think with their fists going after each other several times, neither one backing off, and the convicted dude never intended to kill the victim, said victim who would still be at the hockey rink today had he not gone for round 2 with the guy who was convicted.
Whenever we hear a sentence, there are always mnany factors that go beyond the mere "facts" that the media gives in their sound bites. That being said, the sentences that people are getting for drug crimes in this country, as delineated in the original post that I am responding to, are heinous. I would suspect that the sentences that were referred to are in Texas state, one of the more draconian states on drug sentences - signed into law by the former governor who was lucky that he was never sentenced under them... But we have packed our prisons with people on drug charges, and it is way disproportionate to the real threats to society and safety. As long time people in the JMDL know, I am in no way "pro" drug, because I have seen drugs kill way too much, and destroy lives and familes. I am not "anti" drug either per se. I am tired of the way we treat people with jail, not treatment, with prison, not solving the problems that lead to drug use, that we slam the hammer down on some kid who likes to get high now and again while, oh, shall we say, a lot of people who made big bucks off of Enron and let Enron write our national energy policy and received 200,000s of thousands of dollars in Kenneth Lay's and Enron's campaign contributions, while these people have big paying federal jobs and Enron workers have lost their life savings. Who has hurt more people? Who has hurt society more? Who is the greater threat? Having said all this, I will retreat into my lurking hole and wait for a few more months before I surface again, since I am sure that I have offended everyone again. (the Rev) Vince
