Swami, was the punishment for Jeffrey and Sarah Hutsell enough, too much or too little? Shouldn’t they have done far more time in jail and shouldn’t Mrs. Hutsell have gotten jail time, too? What’s this world coming to when they all they get is a slap on the wrist?
Though the Swami at one time may have been of a slightly different mind on this topic, on balance Swami now sees the sentence for Hutsell (14 days in jail) at the upper limit of what was necessary.
Swami is not much into the legal system “sending messages’ to society because the messages that society sends to itself – like drinking shots at a party is a sign of coolness, for example – are so mixed that punishing the Hutsells more seems an unproductive exercise in vengeance.
Plus, considering the civil trials to come (that means lots if money), the chances that the Hutsells think the have “gotten off easy” is beyond silly. They haven’t gotten off easy. Their lives have been ruined profoundly in the short term, and one wonders how they will ever recover from it. Or if they will.
True, two teens died after the drinking party they allowed to occur, but all of us as citizens have little need to compound the horror that has come to the Hutsells just for the sake of making a point.
If all the law was meant to accomplish was “make a point,” Swami believes the Hutsells have gotten that point quite adequately. Much more would have been cruel for no good reason.
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