I am going to focus this week's blog on something that really bothered me while watching the film "What I Want My Words To Do To You.." I wrote about in my response paper for the film, but now that we have an opportunity to write further about something about the criminal justice system, plus all of you get to read it, instead of just the Professor.
Ok, so what bothered me about the film was the fact that the punishments could be so much harsher for some than others even though they committed virtually the same crime. Some of the women had actually held the gun and murdered someone and then received either twenty years in prison or life, yet in other cases the criminal can just be an accomplice, not have any part in firing the gun or actually murdering the person and then receive a lifetime in prison.
Now, I know we only got a glimpse of the crimes, and I'm sure there's a lot more to some of the stories than just what was brought up, but this is an issue that has been bothering me for some time. I feel like our criminal justice system could be "cleaned up," if you will, in the "punishment" area of our system. I can't imagine how hard that would have to be, and I know that each Judge is a different person, with different feelings and reactions to things, but isn't there a way of making everything a little bit more universal. I wish I had an idea on how to do this, and I'm sure if it were easy then it would have already been done, I know that our criminal justice system is doing it's best, but I just wish everything could be a little bit more fair. Although that brings up the point that my mom always told me growing up, "life's not fair."
My question for you, those who have read this, what do you think? Do you think there is a way that we can do better or do you think that our system is doing the best that it can? I seriously would love to hear what you have to say, so please comment on this blog!! :-)
Thanks!
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Unless I missed someone, the only woman in the film serving a life sentence was Pamela Smart. She said she was an accomplice in the film which I guess doesn't sound that bad. But if what was testified to in the case of her husband's murder is true, she convinced the 15 year old boy she was having an affair with to kill her husband - 'if you love me, you'll get rid of him.' Seems almost like hiring a hitman to me, not just an accomplice.
ReplyDeleteI know you said you realize there is more to the stories than what was brought up in the film but I think the details of her case are important. I wouldn't blame the judges for the differences in the women's sentences, I'd blame it on the differences in the individual cases. I don't think every murderer should get the same sentence because every murder case isn't the same.
I don't really know how the sentence is decided. I do see though how the judge's personality could influence what sentence they'd choose.