A judge Spielberg could love

In his “prayer for peace” Steven Spielberg’s film Munich reportedly draws a moral equivalence between Palestinian terrorists and Israel’s response…and he cautions that “fighting back” doesn’t work – it only leads to more violence.

I gotta think he’d love this judge.

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.

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.

But Judge Edward Cashman disagreed explaining that he no longer believes that punishment works.

“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.

The judge is quite wrong. HATE corrodes the soul. Anger, when it is righteous anger, is a force for justice and reform and even redemption.

So, punishment doesn’t work, therefore, this man who repeatedly victimized this child should serve 60 days jailtime. What’s the sense of “fighting back” when it just won’t make a difference? Like I said, Spielbergian.

It is, sadly, true that 60 days or 60 years will not make much difference to this rapist’s proclivities. The recidivisim rate for child molesters is very high – rehabilitation is extraordinarily iffy. This man is trapped in his perversion, and that is a terrible thing.

But this child is also now trapped in his perversion, and that is tragic.

I know whereof I speak. I can tell you that what this man did will have repurcussions in this child’s life for its totality, even if she manages to deal with her anger, even if she manages to learn to trust again, to believe everything wrong in the world is not her fault, and that she is a good person, or a smart person, she will never ever be completely whole again. The events of her young life and its stolen innocence will shape everything, her self-image, her body-image, her relationships, her sex-life, her self-esteem, her grades, her ability to learn and to succeed in her career – all of it.

When judges impose such absurdly light sentences in the face of heinous crime, particularly when they then advise the family not to be angry, they are almost setting the stage for something awful to happen, for a parent – feeling unserved by the justice system – deciding to take matters into his or her own hand. This is a very harmful move by this judge.

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.

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.

So, let’s let this guy walk the streets again and try the rehab that may work for a little while, or not at all! Gee, that doesn’t create any expectations, now, does it? The judge feels jailtime accomplishes nothing of value? So what?

This girl’s life has been stolen. This man, therefore, no longer needs to walk free in America and have the opportunity to steal another, and another, and another child’s life. Putting him in jail accomplishes something of value: it tells this little girl that he’s not going to harm her again. And it precludes anyone else’s little girl from having to endure this hell.

But I guess the judge, having become so enlightened as to have conquered his own impulse to anger, does not understand what he has done.

UPDATE: More information about the judges sentencing, which clarifies things a bit, here.