60 days? What a shame

I had decided to write the inaugural column for my book’s website on the most important issue facing my generation: the war on terror and our nation’s will, or lack thereof, to fight it. But a news broadcast yesterday caught my attention and focused me on something much more pressing: the erosion of our nation’s moral fiber and our passive attitude towards it.
Consider Judge Ed Cashman of Vermont, who recently presided at the sentencing of one Mark Hulett, age 34. Hulett was charged with sexual assault of a child and he subsequently confessed to repeatedly raping the girl countless times over a four year period. The abuse began when the girl was seven years old and finally ended when she was ten. Her life is now ruined.
Cashman’s response to the crime and the sentence that he imposed was jaw-dropping. Hulett was given 60 days in jail. That’s right. In two months, this monster will be back on the streets and the children of Vermont will be in harm’s way. Why such a lenient sentence? Cashman’s reasoning is nearly as shocking as the prison term itself. In fact, it takes a direct quote from him to fully understand the vastness of this dereliction of duty.
“The one message I want to get through is that anger doesn’t solve anything. It just corrodes your soul,” said the judge.
Is that so? Keep in mind that the judge was speaking to a courtroom that included the family members of the young girl who suffered at the hands of this beast. Yet the one message he wanted to send was this? Anger doesn’t solve anything? The last time I checked, it wasn’t a judge’s job to solve problems. Their job is to uphold the law and protect society. I’m sure the courtroom appreciated his personal opinion, but if he was seeking to avoid anger he certainly chose the wrong way to do it. Someone needs to ask the judge what happens to the soul after it is raped repeatedly over a four year period. Obviously the judge wasn’t concerned about the crime as much as he was about the criminal, how pathetically sad.
As if that wasn’t enough, he then proceeded to state that he no longer believes in punishment for these offenders and that rehabilitation is what’s in the best interest for all. He argued that since the Vermont penal system offers no options for rehabilitation for these offenders, 60 days in prison was just. Now, I don’t know this man but I doubt he is an expert in criminal psychology or sexual abuse. He is not a physician or a philosopher. He is not a lawmaker. He is a judge. His job is to follow the law and the law calls for punishment of rapists regardless of his personal opinions. After all, it is the penal system and not the rehab system. One wonders that if the victim were his own daughter or grand-daughter, would his beliefs still hold? I doubt it. Yet he chose this confessed rapist as a means to thumb his nose in protest of the Vermont penal system, and the little girl with live the rest of her life knowing her attacker served less time than Martha Stewart. But this case brings to light a deeper problem facing this country. Over the past thirty years it seems our tolerance of immoral behavior has grown exponentially. For example, at one time homosexuality was considered deviant, yet now it is viewed as an alternative lifestyle that is inborn. At one time, a mother who murdered her newborn child was charged accordingly, yet now we attribute it to mental illness and allow them to escape the consequences of their actions. Are we gradually migrating to a similar opinion regarding pedophiles? Will we one day say “it’s not their fault” and fail to punish them as Judge Cashman has done? If we continue on our current path, the answer is yes. My guess is that sex offenders all over the country are now looking at Vermont as an ideal place to set up residence and I hope the people of that great state, indeed the entire country, take heed. America ’s moral decline must stop and our leaders have shown no intention of leading us in the right direction regarding these matters. Our children, our future, are at risk. 60 days? Shame on you, Judge Cashman. Shame on those who allow you to continue acting as a judge. Indeed, shame on us all for allowing our country to arrive at such a point where criminals are victims and victims must learn to control their anger lest it “corrode” their soul.