In theory, a judge should make his or her decisions on the bench without regard to politics. In theory, a judge should be shielded from politics in order to make the best decision in a given case - not the popular decision.
Federal judges are able to make their decisions without regard to any potential political consequences as they serve for life. State judges, on the other hand, either have to stand for re-election or for retention elections.
We currently live in an era of mass incarceration. Under President Bill Clinton (with the enthusiastic support of his wife), sentencing laws became draconian. The number of people in state and federal prisons is staggering. We have the highest rate of incarceration in the world - 698 per 100,000.
Once upon a time federal judges had great discretion in making sentencing decisions. That changed with the introduction of the Federal sentencing guidelines and criminal defense work became mostly a game of cross-checking charts for aggravating and mitigating factors.
Aaron Persky is a judge in Santa Clara County, California. Until very recently he presided over criminal matters.
Brock Turner was a swimmer at Stanford University. In January 2015 he was arrested for sexually assaulting an unconscious woman behind a dumpster. At trial he was convicted of three felony sexual assault charges. He was sentenced to six months in jail and three years probation. He is required to register as a sex offender for the rest of his life.
Judge Persky presided over the trial and pronounced sentence. In sentencing Mr. Turner, Judge Persky commented that a long prison term would likely ruin Mr. Turner's life. Mr. Turner had never been in trouble with the law before.
Women's organizations and advocacy groups went apoplectic at the sentence. They wanted Mr. Turner to spend years in prison for what he did. And nothing was going to change their opinion.
There was nothing unusual about what Judge Persky did. He took a variety of factors into account before handing down the sentence. Did Mr. Turner receive a comparatively light sentence? Yes, he did. But he was also a first offender.
Was the sentence a slap in the face of the victim of Mr. Turner's actions? No.
Here is where a whole lot of folks get our criminal (in)justice system wrong. The rules are designed so that a person accused of a crime gets a fair trial. The burden of proof is so high to try to prevent an innocent man from being locked away. In a criminal trial, the alleged victim of a crime is nothing more than another witness.
A criminal trial is not a means of an alleged victim obtaining justice. A criminal trial is a process by which a judge or jury determines whether or not the evidence put forward by the government proves beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant did what he was accused of.
An acquittal is not an insult to an alleged victim. It is nothing more than an indicator that the evidence put forward by the government was insufficient to prove the defendant committed the act. A conviction is not "justice" for an alleged victim - or for society. It is but an indicator that the evidence put forward by the government was sufficient to prove the defendant did it.
State legislatures give judges a wide range of sentencing options should a defendant plead guilty or be proven guilty. Those options range from deferred adjudication (in Texas) to probation to prison.
Judge Persky insulted no one by sentencing Mr. Turner to jail time and probation. He was using the tools at his disposal. Those who are angry at Judge Persky for his decision are barking up the wrong tree. If you don't like the sentence, go talk to the legislature.
As a side note, the California legislature stuck its collective finger in the wind and passed new mandatory minimum sentencing laws for sexual assault of an unconscious or intoxicated person. Hey, but then we all know that bad facts make for bad laws.
What we are seeing is an attempt by advocates for victims of sexual assault to force judges to ignore the law and to not consider the entire range of punishment available. We dismiss folks from jury duty if they cannot consider the full range of punishment in a given case - judges who can't consider the full range of punishment do not deserve to sit on the bench, either.
Attempts to force judges to yield to popular political opinion will only harm those who need the most protection from the oppressive power of the state - those accused of criminal acts. This is not about sending out a message to society - it's about curtailing the independence of the judiciary.
The issue isn't that Judge Persky used his discretion. Nor is it that he considered the full range of sentencing options. It's that his reasoning for downward departure is completely inconsistent with the record in this case. The statements Judge Persky made about the defendant's actions, comments, and contrition were spun out of whole cloth.
ReplyDeleteThis was as clear an abuse of discretion as I can think of.
I agree with your general point about judicial independence and protecting the accused, but there has to be a line. Otherwise, you get lawless fiefdoms where local judges can essentially nullify laws for any reason. Say, because the defendant was a cop, and all he did was kill a black man. Oh, he was convicted? Well, it's been hard on him, it's going to ruin his life, and I heard contrition in there when he was talking about how he shouldn't be punished for just getting a little action, so, 14 months.
Don't you complain about things like that? What makes this case different?