A du Pont family heir plead guilty to raping his 3-year-old daughter in 2008.
From The Daily News:
Superior Judge Jan Jurden sentenced Richards to eight years in prison, but suspended the time for probation that requires monthly visits with a case officer. “Defendant will not fare well in [a prison] setting,” Jurden wrote in her sentencing order.
Well that’s very sweet. Money does have its privileges. But as much as I’d love to go off on trust-fund babies, a large part of me says this judge did exactly the right thing: not send this guy to prison. Why? Because he will be killed in prison. The problem is that the state cannot protect its prisoners from being murdered. How could you, as a judge, knowing sentence someone to prison knowing they will be killed? Now were he killed, I wouldn’t shed a tear, but still… if we as society want this guy to be executed, then we as society should have the balls to kill the guy. Legally. By the book. But to gleefully put a guy in locked cage knowing that convicts will do our murderous dirty work for us? For shame.
[The definition of “rape” has come to mean too things; here’s the definition of 4th degree rape in Delaware.]
[hat tip to Jay Ackroyd]
I get what you're saying, but this means that the worse your crime (to a criminal), the less likely you have to do jail time. Why should this wealthy guy get off scot-free when all the less-wealthy who do the same thing end up in prison (maybe being killed)? Should we be letting all the child abusers go instead of putting them in prison?
All I'm really saying is that it's unacceptable that we can't run a prison system that can actually keep guarantee you won't be murdered.
And it's really only this kind of offender (child sexual abuse) that is guaranteed to be killed. If you're *just* a horrible murderer, you might get mad props and respect.
K, I agree with that for sure.
The big error is to think that the symbolism in the case means anything in the real world. Sending him of to prison to be killed does nothing to reform real prison problems. The US prison system has 99 problems, but putting too few White people in jail ain't one.
Well said, Jay. Well said.