Smooth Criminals

Being the raging lefty feminist that I am, I make it a general rule to reject prison sentences as the ultimate answer to crime. The prison industrial complex is a reality and there is very little if any rehabilitation in prison and the makeup of the current prison system is appalling.

At this point in my life, I wouldn’t call myself a prison abolitionist as I am not 100% decided on what I think an alternative would be. But I do know that the prison system is messed up and a microcosm of the racism, sexism and overall discrimination that exists in this country. Not to mention our archaic beliefs about sexuality, drug use and definition of “crime”.

Exhibit A: We have two young womyn in New Brunswick who made “A poster-like image of a young boy accompanied by writing that said he had been sexually abused and killed” and left said poster on the grounds of a traveling carnival. A full blown homicide investigation ensued which involved a forensics lab in the US of A.

Turns out, the whole thing was a scam and there was no young boy. In fact, the whole thing was the harebrained idea of a couple bored teenagers.

Talk about horrific. These are the kinds of people who make youth look bad. These are the bad apples that ruin it for all the others. And these are the kinds of people who should be punished harshly. They’re young, they did this for fun and they wasted precious police time and resources.

And their punishment? Well, there is none. According to police Constable Stephane Roy

“The teens, who are older than 12 but under the age of 18, received a verbal warning. They haven't been in trouble with the law before and won't be facing criminal charges, he said.”

But, grow some weed and you’re in hella, hella deep. (Speaking of which, shut the hell up, Margaret Wente).

I’m not saying straight up jail time for these young womyn but something needs to happen here. Otherwise we’re setting people up to think that it’s okay to pull stupid pranks like this because “Hey, all you’ll get is a visit from the cops” which I’m sure makes for a great story at your next party.