I was so happy to hear that two of the murderers were found guilty of a hate crime in federal court. They both were sentenced to 9 years. So for the woman in the documentary yelling, "I told you I was right. That's all I have to say."; I have a feeling she is taking her foot out of her mouth when the federal verdict came down as guilty! I wish I was a fly on the wall when she found out! Bwaa haaa!!!
shareThank goodness for the hate crime charge.
This whole town made me wanna puke.
Even on the newscasts shown within this documentary, Luis Ramirez was always called an 'illegal immigrant'. As if that mitigates what the kids did.
Just gross.
In a perfect court world there would be no need for stricter sentences based on hate as that is a slippery slope indeed. Ideally people who assault or murder would be given real time in the first place. Like 10-30 years for assault depending on severity and actual real life sentences for planned murders and 25 years for rape. Instead criminals get those sentences but they are hollow as they do 10-50% MAX and are out free to rape murder and mayhem again. All prison did was teach them more violence and aggression. True harsh sentences would be a great deterrent and bottom line by the numbers would keep our cities safer, but too many bleeding hearts focus on the perp and not the victim(s).
shareOk, so you say all prisons do is make people harder and more criminalized when they come out.
But then you say prison should be harder on inmates.
Kinda hard not to see your thoughts swirling inside your head.
What we need to do is separate the truly violent from the nonviolent and tailor rehabilitation programs for inmates. I don't know the exact figure, but the vast majority if people imprisoned in the U.S. will be released back into the community one day and if we treat them like dirty animals while they're in prison, what do you expect from them when they get out??
If we treat them like people who have gone astray and need both punishment for their crime(s), but help for when they get out, we would see a lot less recidivism.
Other nations do things a lot better. We should look to models that have shown success.
And the worst thing we can possibly do to people is brand them for life. Banning the box is one step we need to take universally but that is only the first step. Depending on the offense, the felony record should be sealed from PUBLIC records in a specified time frame. Previous felonies would always be in record to be used if more crimes are committed, but you have to give hope and a chance to those who truly change.
And most republican politicians want to get rid of the hate crime charge. We are in 2014 and we still need a law like that to get justice because we have so many small towns where crimes are swept under the rug. I'm white and grew up in Detroit but I'm always more afraid of smal rural towns in the south and middle America. It's scary how stuck some pats of America is.
shareIt would have given you no satisfaction and I'm sure she can rationalize anything. We all can.
I was most glad that the cops involved in the cover-up are serving time. It's one thing to punish kids for acting out the hatred they've been taught. It's quite another thing for them to see their horrible role models locked away.