Miscellaneous

A Frost-y Juvenile Sentence

By Anne Skove, Esq.

You might call it The Trial by Existence.

Whose house this was they did not know.
The poet died so long ago.

Teenagers who vandalized the Vermont home of Robert Frost were sentenced to lectures on the poet by Middlebury College professor and Frost biographer Jay Parini.

This reminds us of the time Pete Rose was sentenced to work in the same inner-city public school where many upstanding citizens (such as court-o-rama's momma) made their legit living.

Alternative sentences are interesting. Their proponents hope such sentences are more meaningful and have longer-lasting effects than a routine lashing or stint in juvie hall.

Some are outright weird, like the Texas justice of the peace who seemed more interested in watching a 14-year-old girl be paddled than in any actual positive change.

Others aim to educate. We've heard several instances of judges sentencing hate graffitists to reading and essay-writing exercises. Some kids really don't know the significance of a swastika, and it's better for them to learn now rather than later.

Should reading, writing, or teaching at a public school be punishment? What about community service? What does that say to the plenty of fine people who contribute to society every day without a court order? And what is the proper punishment should one of these community volunteers break the law -- a week working in a cubicle at an ad agency? Ten days in a publishing house? A month defending pharmaceutical companies? Maybe these sentences need to be better researched and more tailored, so that each defendant or offender gets his or her own private little hell.

See Poetical Punishment for the Frost Farm Vandals, Bob & Margery's Poetry Blog (June 4, 2008). Thanks to our former high school English teacher for the link!

See also Poetic Sentencing Justice, Doug Berman, Sentencing Law & Policy (June 3, 2008).

Full post as published by court-o-rama.org on June 05, 2008 (boomark / email).