Man who fired 40 rounds into traffic on I-90 near Idaho-Washington border last winter will not serve prison time

[BWdem4life]

25. And yet

I often see OPs on DU praising the criminal justice systems of other countries which are less focused on punitive measures and more focused on rehabilitation of the criminal.

If they had thrown the book at him, would it really have made it less likely that a similar crime would be later committed by someone else? Does NOT throwing the book at him make it MORE likely that someone else will commit the same crime? Is it likely that this particular individual will commit the same crime again in the future, having dodged a prison sentence this time but been given a chance to rehabilitate himself? I seem to recall reading about studies that show punitive measures don't really prevent crime, only create hardened criminals.

This "hard time for hard crime" stuff is really more of a conservative than liberal viewpoint, although I recognize there are exceptions to every rule. But I envision a society where people are more often given the chance to reform, rather than one where more are incarcerated here than in most other countries.

I think a lot of DUers and I will just have to agree to disagree on this one.

Again, had he actually injured or killed someone, I'd probably be saying he needs to serve some time.