6 ms·

It's really encouraging to see people in the system who really care about helping the people they serve, and this judge is clearly in that category. His commen

It's really encouraging to see people in the system who really care about helping the people they serve, and this judge is clearly in that category. His comments in the video about "sometimes they lose their way" was filled with compassion. We need more people like that in the world.

joe_the_user 10y ago
US mass incarceration is terrible problem, it's well known that the US has more prisoners than any other country and one of the highest per capita rates of imprisonment in the world. The war on drugs, mandatory minimum sentencing, brutal probation regimes that throw ex-prisoners back into prison for minor offenses all play a part. This is systematic problem, media-driven attacks on criminals are a reliable "dog-whistle" issue for politicians and so-forth. It is encouraging to me when folks involved in this system put forward a critique and try to stop the overall downward trend here. It is "nice" when someone engages in this sort of act of pure human kindness but this seem like exactly the sort of things that doesn't scale, that doesn't recognize larger problems and basically puts things down as a simple problem for veterans rather than a problem our whole society faces. Anyone who's spent a bit of time watching courts knows that a given judges sees dozens of people per day who get essentially assembly line justice with 90% of them being sad people who made sad choices with the courts meting out one more level penalties likely to continue these people's downward spiral. It's nice when a judge does one semi-good thing - but I can only see nice, not encouraging, here.
bcook 10y ago
I disagree. If the judge wanted to make a difference, he would set precedent, not this publicity stunt. Great... he helped 1 person who suffers from a disorder. What about the other millions? I do not mean to dismiss his act of kindness but, honestly, who do you think is benefiting more; the judge or the soldier? I would say the judge.
- fencepost 10y ago
  The judge can't help all of those other millions, but he can help the one right in front of him. Are you saying that if he can't help everyone then it's better that he help nobody? Or to give it the common phrase, "Think globally, act locally."
  - ghufran_syed 10y ago
    Or to quote p.j.o'rourke: "Everybody wants to save the earth; nobody wants to help Mom do the dishes." https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/P._J._O%27Rourke https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/P._J._O%27Rourke

joe_the_user 10y ago

US mass incarceration is terrible problem, it's well known that the US has more prisoners than any other country and one of the highest per capita rates of imprisonment in the world. The war on drugs, mandatory minimum sentencing, brutal probation regimes that throw ex-prisoners back into prison for minor offenses all play a part. This is systematic problem, media-driven attacks on criminals are a reliable "dog-whistle" issue for politicians and so-forth. It is encouraging to me when folks involved in this system put forward a critique and try to stop the overall downward trend here. It is "nice" when someone engages in this sort of act of pure human kindness but this seem like exactly the sort of things that doesn't scale, that doesn't recognize larger problems and basically puts things down as a simple problem for veterans rather than a problem our whole society faces. Anyone who's spent a bit of time watching courts knows that a given judges sees dozens of people per day who get essentially assembly line justice with 90% of them being sad people who made sad choices with the courts meting out one more level penalties likely to continue these people's downward spiral. It's nice when a judge does one semi-good thing - but I can only see nice, not encouraging, here.

bcook 10y ago

I disagree. If the judge wanted to make a difference, he would set precedent, not this publicity stunt. Great... he helped 1 person who suffers from a disorder. What about the other millions? I do not mean to dismiss his act of kindness but, honestly, who do you think is benefiting more; the judge or the soldier? I would say the judge.

fencepost 10y ago
The judge can't help all of those other millions, but he can help the one right in front of him. Are you saying that if he can't help everyone then it's better that he help nobody? Or to give it the common phrase, "Think globally, act locally."
- ghufran_syed 10y ago
  Or to quote p.j.o'rourke: "Everybody wants to save the earth; nobody wants to help Mom do the dishes." https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/P._J._O%27Rourke https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/P._J._O%27Rourke