UNITED STATES—I’ve always questioned our legal system and for good reason, as it appears the idea of obtaining justice isn’t something that those in power care to display. One of my colleagues wrote a piece last week about the case involving teenager Audrie Pott who committed suicide in California after being sexually assaulted by several teens at a party.
Those teens took pictures of the teenage victim and displayed them over social media. The embarrassment led to the victim committing suicide. This bothered me beyond belief, not just because of the disgusting nature of the crime, but the fact that people are still not grasping that sending naked pictures through social media is a crime, especially if it’s of someone who is underage.
What concerned me the most was that the suspects in this case received a slap on the wrist by the legal system that decided to give the teens a ‘weekend detention,’ as a form of punishment! Are you serious, detention? This isn’t someone who was being a clown in the classroom, it’s believed they assaulted this girl, posting pictures of her online and it resulted in her death. What the hell am I missing here? Did the judge not take any of these things into consideration?
I don’t understand how so many people commit heinous crimes and find themselves getting away with it time and time again. This harkens me back to a Texas teen that was behind the wheel drunk and crashed his vehicle into another car killing several people. Did this teen suffer any jail time?
Nope, he got probation. I was livid after learning this story because his parents played the money card and was able to buy a judge or the legal system to get their bratty, spoiled child out of trouble. I hate to hear this, because we see these things time and time again on television and in the movies and suspect that it’s just make believe, but its not. It happens more in daily life.
The bigger concern is the message we send to youth about crime and punishment. Three teens committed a crime, and they weren’t punished for it. Which means others will suspect that if they do the same, the punishment is not likely to be harsh.
As much as I’d like to embrace the US legal system I can’t. There are just so many flaws in this system I can’t help but suspect that the idea of fairness or justice doesn’t exist. You have juries that can be bought, judges that can be bought, police officers that can be bought, the idea of a non-biased legal system, just doesn’t exist, even if we’d like to think it does.
People have preconceived notions, people have biases, people tell lies, evidence gets corrupted and money buys you lots of things, but it can’t eliminate guilt, or your conscience. That is why I think the human mind is such a powerful thing, you might have gotten away with a heinous crime, but that guilt, those memories will eat away at your conscious until you can’t take it anymore.
That’s what I’m hoping is happening to all the teens involved or who had any part in the death of Audrie Pott. Ask for forgiveness for your crimes, because you are responsible for the death of a teenage girl; you may not have physically committed the act, but you put all the wheels in motion that led to it. I’d rather sleep at night thanking God that I didn’t do something, versus having to sleep at night regretting something that I did.
For those working within the legal system, remember justice is important. In life, we all have a choice; it’s about time we all make the right ones. Many people say there are differences between justice and revenge, but in all due honesty is it?
