...That was really scary.
Seriously? You must scare easily. She drove on a sidewalk. Big whoop. The news said a "school bus full of small children" but the video showed, what, 2 or 3? Pretty sensationalized story.
It's the mindset which scares me.
Lucky this time ...you have kids ? It's the mindset which scares me.
I get it. I agree it was wrong. it just seems the whole response by the court ("idiot" sign) and the posts here were an overreaction.
For the rich, even a fine of that size is but a permit to break the law.
IMO the only way to get their attention is through ridicule.
Now, about Lindsay Lohan .........
Oh good... the US justice system is now part of the entertainment industry.
'I Stole From A 9-Year-Old': Court-Ordered Shaming
by The Associated Press
November 13, 2012
A woman caught on camera driving on a sidewalk to pass a Cleveland school bus was ordered this week to hold a sign at the intersection reading, "Only an idiot would drive on the sidewalk to avoid a school bus." It was the latest example of creative, and sometimes controversial, sentences handed out by judges to publicly shame offenders. Some other examples from around the country:
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UTAH: PONYTAIL CUT OFF
The mother of a 13-year-old Utah girl chopped off her daughter's ponytail in court in order to reduce her community service sentence.
The teen had landed in court in May because she and another girl used dollar-store scissors to cut off the hair of a 3-year-old they had befriended at a McDonald's.
A judge agreed to reduce the teen's community service time if her mother chopped off her daughter's ponytail in court. The mother has since filed a formal complaint, saying the judge in Price intimidated her into the eye-for-an-eye penalty.
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HOUSTON: 'I AM A THIEF'
Daniel and Eloise Mireles were convicted of stealing more than $265,000 from the crime victims fund in Harris County, Texas.
In addition to restitution and jail time, the Houston couple were sentenced in July 2010 to stand in front of the local mall for five hours every weekend for six years with a sign reading, "I am a thief."
A sign was also posted outside their house stating they were convicted thieves.
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PENNSYLVANIA: 'I STOLE FROM A 9-YEAR-OLD'
Western Pennsylvania residents Evelyn Border and her daughter, Tina Griekspoor, 35, were caught stealing a gift card from a child inside a Wal-Mart.
In November 2009, the Bedford County district attorney said he would recommend probation instead of jail time because the women stood in front of the courthouse for 4 1/2 hours holding signs reading, "I stole from a 9-year-old on her birthday! Don't steal or this could happen to you!"
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WISCONSIN: 'I WAS STUPID'
A man who crashed his car into the gates at a Wisconsin waste water treatment plant spent eight hours holding a sign saying, "I was stupid."
Shane McQuillan decided he would rather do that than spend 20 days in jail on a charge of criminal damage to property.
McQuillan had a blood alcohol level of 0.238 percent, nearly three times the legal limit for driving, at the time of the 2008 accident in Eau Claire.
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OHIO: 'SORRY FOR THE JACKASS OFFENSE'
An Ohio judge ordered a man and woman who vandalized a baby Jesus statue in a church's outdoor nativity to march through town with a donkey to apologize.
Jessica Lange and Brian Patrick admitted to defacing the statue at St. Anthony Roman Catholic Church on Christmas Eve 2003. They led a donkey provided by a petting zoo through the streets of Fairport Harbor carrying a sign that said, "Sorry for the jackass offense."
After the 30-minute march, the pair were taken to serve 45-day sentences that included drug and alcohol treatment. They also were ordered to replace the statue.
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TEXAS: FROM COURTHOUSE TO DOGHOUSE
Curtis Robin Sr. made a deal with Texas prosecutors to spend 30 consecutive nights in a 2-by-3-foot doghouse after pleading guilty to whipping his stepson with a car antenna.
Robin served the sentence outside his home in Vidor in 2003 so he could avoid jail time and continue working as a foreman for a demolition company.
Police were assigned to randomly check on Robin to ensure he was in the doghouse each night from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. Robin was allowed to have a sleeping bag, mosquito netting, plastic tarp or similar protective items.
A positive trend to keep first-time/one-time offenders out of jail.It gets better! Straight from the Dumb*** News of the Day:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=165044525
...
A positive trend to keep first-time/one-time offenders out of jail.
Oh good... the US justice system is now part of the entertainment industry.
There are options between putting someone in the slammer... and the entertainment & humiliation thing.
What is so wrong about Public ridicule??
Please, enlighten us.
....And the bus driver didn't get in trouble for using a cell phone while driving a bus full of children?
I don't like what she did at all, but I don't find the bus driver's actions acceptable either. He couldn't have asked any of the kids to record it? God knows they'd manage to edit together a nice video and post it online in seconds
Put your ****ing phones down in the car people, too many good lives lost because someone can't wait 5 minutes to answer a goddamn text.
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Something that seems to have eluded a number of posters is that what is 'good enough' for this one person is also 'good enough' for them. Nobody goes through a month without breaking at least one law, even if by accident. If the US 'vengence' system is in fact reverting to a form of punishment that dates back to the Roman Empire, or the Dark Ages - you, your parent, your partner, your child - may be next person splashed on the front page of your hometown paper. Of course, at that point, you will still feel that the humiliation was a just one. Even as friends, enemies, work colleagues, etc post the photos in a locker, an office, a favourite coffee shop for everyone there to share in the spectacle.
....Break the law, face the consequences. Regardless of what they may be. If my friends or relatives are stupid enough to endanger peoples lives, they deserve what they get. If I get so engrossed in my life so as to endanger someone else's, then I deserve what I get. This POS could have killed someones child at some point. ...
So.... you're saying that any punishment, as long as it was 'lawful' is OK. So if the law says you should have a foot amputated for trespassing - As long as it was written down, you'd be OK with losing a foot because you cut a corner one day and walked across someone's lawn?
Or have an eye removed because one night someone across the alley was getting undressed in front of their window, and instead of pulling your drapes immediately you became a peeping tom because you watched.... just for 3 seconds? You'd be OK with that, then?
Yes... extreme examples... but that is what you are saying.
And I hope you do ever condemn other cultures for their seemingly barbaric punishments, because those punishments are also 'lawful' for them. Or are you saying it's just your own justice system that gets to be barbaric?
Interesting you note your extreme examples.. for it is those same examples that the 8th Amendment would be applied to, making your examples obsolete. In this case, her punishment is neither cruel nor unusual.
BL.