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In reply to the discussion: Judge: 13-year-old girl gets lighter sentence if her ponytail gets cut off [View all]ProgressiveEconomist
(5,818 posts)IMO the 13-year-old needs to learn some foolproof method of impulse control. Can you think of a better way to teach her why she should not cut off anybody else's hair than to have to live with her own hair having been cut off? She'll learn how what she might do in a thoughtless moment can have long-lasting consequences.
Then maybe, for the rest of her life, before she does anything else as stupid as cutting off a defensless three-year-old's hair, she'll ask herself, "How would I feel if someone did that to me"? IMO the judge was not dispensing retribution but rather giving the 13-year-old a custom-built compass to help guide her behavior for the indefinite future. IMO the mother's inability to understand this true justice may help explain why her child did what she did.
What this judge did reminds me of another judge I heard about who sentences young people whose antisocial behavior seem to stem from fundamental trouble understanding other people's feelings. That judge makes them work for a cooperating flower shop for several months. Those sentenced get to experience vicariously grief (delivering flowers to wakes and funerals), joy (at weddings and other events), etc. Because of that judge, dozens of people who were missing something crucial of what makes a decent human being got chances to fix themselves before their antisocial behavior could escalate.