‘We Need to Take Away Children,’ No Matter How Young

[*PhilHos*]

(10-13-2020, 11:31 AM)Au165 Wrote: Should you go to jail and be separated from your kids for 180 days in Ohio for stealing a candy bar?  It qualifies for petty theft, a misdemeanor, which by your logic they should have the book thrown at them.

I forget where it was but out west (I think California) a few years ago, it came out that the DA was not going to prosecute for small crimes like shoplifting. Guess what happened? Many people went nuts and started shoplifting. Sometimes, if a certain crime becomes a problem, you need to drop the hammer to try to send a message and to try to get people to stop committing that crime.

So, to answer your question: yes, I should be sent to jail and separated from my kids for stealing a candy bar if there was a problem with lots of people stealing candy bars in Ohio. 

(10-13-2020, 11:31 AM)Au165 Wrote: ...or the judge could fine them as allowed by the law simiarly as the law for illegal entry into the U.S. allows for a fine without incarciration on a first offense.

Sure, if the law allows that. Similarly if the law allows jail for a first offense a judge is well within his or her rights to sentence them to prison.