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Comment by InclinedPlane | Hacker News Reader

To put this in perspective, she's charged with possessing and discharging a weapon on school property. That is a class 3 felony in Florida, if she is tried as an adult then she could receive up to 5 years in prison. Compare that to the Steubenville rapists who received sentences of one to two years. And here nobody was harmed nor was there even a high likelihood of anyone being harmed. It's just ridiculous.

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I also think that the charges here are too severe, and the Steubenville rape sentences were too light. But they are not comparable. The rapists could have received far more than two years and Kiera Wilmot will probably receive less than five.

Even a day would be an absolute travesty of justice for this. She's getting the book thrown at her, not for reasons of safety, or education, but simply because the book exists to be thrown.

Yes, she did something stupid. But if stupidity were a crime, we'd all be doing time. I can't see how society would be safer... Or better off, by destroying this woman's future.

This is a great way to put it. I agree, this is only happening because administrators see a way to use their "book."

Disclaimer: the same thing happened to me: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5637272

She's being charged with essentially the same crime as entering a school with a loaded gun and shooting inside the school. The fact that jail time is even on the table is a problem, even if she is likely to receive less jail time than convicted rapists (isn't that comforting?)

"probably receive less than five"

In a UK school that would be 'probably less than five minutes in the head teacher's study being told off'

I'm sure a proper telling off could go as long as 20 minutes with a probable preamble of the student standing in front of the head teacher's desk in silence for a good five minutes while the head teacher collects his/her thoughts, but that would be the end of it.

Yes, true. And in these days of 'safeguarding' there might be half a day suspension or Mum might be phoned.

As an outsider viewing this kind of thing in the US from the media (like the wrong end of a telescope) it seems as if there is a huge legal machine that just crushes away irrespective of the need and actual severity of the case. Am I wrong?

You're not wrong. "Zero tolerance" swept the land and there is precious little the average person can do to change how schools work. Running for school board requires a commitment that most people cannot accept (need to feed the family).

This whole thing is pretty much why I support parents picking the school the kids go to with the money following that choice. It is really the only way that parents will be heard.

It's not fair to compare to the rapists because they were severely under-penalized. You can't say person x deserves a lesser sentence than person y, because person y's crime is more heinous. Person y may have gotten off easier than they deserved.

But yeah, 5 years for a toilet cleaner bomb is nuts. You can say that.

That sort of logic is what allows our flawed judicial system to continue with arbitrary and/or discriminatory sentencing. Yes, the Steubenville Rapists were under-penalized. And yes, this student was over-penalized.

To me, this seems like both data points illustrate the lack of true equality under the law (in the United States, at the very least).

Guns and bombs threaten the state monopoly on power, violence and punishment.

Rapes not so much.

The body of law (and the sentences it produces) move in a direction that may meander and have inertia, but is ultimately predictable.

Guns and bombs threaten the state monopoly on power, violence and punishment

And this is a good thing as long as citizens have control of the state. In fact, it's one of the chief functions of the state.

It's when citizens get lazy and allow themselves to be manipulated that this goes bad.

But here there's another irony. The state is crying about a personnel shortage in STEM, yet simultaneously threatening ridiculous punishment for the very same characteristics that lead to excellence in STEM.

The irony is sickening.

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