Vermont Justice

Heard this on the news last night and found it linked at Ravenwood's Universe.

Prepared to be completely offended.

There was outrage Wednesday when a Vermont judge handed out a 60-day jail sentence to a man who raped a little girl many, many times over a four-year span starting when she was seven.

The judge said he no longer believes in punishment and is more concerned about rehabilitation.

Prosecutors argued that confessed child-rapist Mark Hulett, 34, of Williston deserved at least eight years behind bars for repeatedly raping a littler girl countless times starting when she was seven.

I agree that jail won't help this offender. A bullet to the back of the head would be more appropriate.

"The one message I want to get through is that anger doesn't solve anything. It just corrodes your soul," said Judge Edward Cashman speaking to a packed Burlington courtroom. Most of the on-lookers were related to a young girl who was repeatedly raped by Mark Hulett who was in court to be sentenced.

[snip]

But Judge Cashman explained that he is more concerned that Hulett receive sex offender treatment as rehabilitation. But under Department of Corrections classification, Hulett is considered a low-risk for re-offense so he does not qualify for in-prison treatment. So the judge sentenced him to just 60 days in prison and then Hulett must complete sex treatment when he gets out or face a possible life sentence.

I fail to see the relevance of his risk of recidivism. Most murderers are highly unlikely to commit murder a second time. That doesn't mean you give them 60 days and anger management classes. Do you really think this guy will miss a single "sex treatment" session? Hell, he gets a free get-out-of-jail card with this one.

This judge is just broken. The state should be looking at removal ASAP.

Judge Cashman also also revealed that he once handed down stiff sentences when he first got on the bench 25 years ago, but he no longer believes in punishment.

"I discovered it accomplishes nothing of value; it doesn't make anything better; it costs us a lot of money; we create a lot of expectation, and we feed on anger," Cashman explained to the people in the court.

No longer believes in punishment. Great sentiment. Wonder how that little girl will be dealing with life knowing that the man who raped her for four years is going to be out on the street shortly. It's judges like this that make it very clear why minimum sentence requirements are required in the law.

Well, hopefully judge Cashman won't ever have to face a child or wife who was repeatedly raped. Anger tends to be resolved when the cause is addressed. Cashman completely failed to address it.