It seems that a scene straight from “The Godfather” played itself out in Long Beach last Friday. The judge in charge of the now infamous Halloween attacks case sentenced the four most involved teens to a measly 60 days of house arrest and probation. Yesterday four more were convicted with light sentences.
In “The Godfather” this was when Amerigo Bonasera decided to seek his own justice through Don Vito Corleone. Bonasera was outraged because men responsible for brutalizing his daughter were sent off scot free because they came from “good families” and had no prior records.
In the Halloween case, the conviction should have been much more clear-cut and obvious. One of the teens responsible had a history of violence. The nature of their cruel actions should have merited much more severe punishment.
The young women attacked on Halloween were pelted with pumpkins and lemons, racially taunted, kicked and punched and beaten to the ground by at least nine teens who even used tree branches and a skateboard while attacking the three women, according to articles in the Long Beach Press-Telegram. A sentence of two months house arrest doesn’t do the victims justice.
The sentence was coupled with family, racial tolerance and anger management counseling, according to an article in the Feb. 2 issue of the Press-Telegram. Despite the beneficial properties of counseling, it is not capable of working miracles.
According to the article, the 18-year-old man convicted Friday has been in trouble for fighting in school before, being reprimanded in school for fighting six times between January 2002 and March 2003. His GPA was lackluster and he purged himself while on the stand, saying that he was an honor roll student when, according to the prosecuting attorney, he had no involvement with any honors programs. This kind of dishonesty in such a serious case is certainly a reflection of poor character and merits its own punishment.
It seems pretty clear that the teen isn’t living in a situation that is conducive for creating someone who can function as a productive member of society.
This is not only a slap in the face for the victims, but it is an insult to those who came forward to testify on their behalf. Given the violent nature of these crimes, the victims risked a lot speaking out for the victims. One witness’ car was even ruined after being asked to describe a car in court.
These sacrifices are not something that should have been given in vain. Rather than disrespect the victims and witnesses and more likely prove the Long Beach criminal justice system to be a complete joke, the poor judgment of the judge responsible for convicting and sentencing the teens should be recognized by those above him and be reprimanded.
With judgments like these, it’s no wonder that Long Beach has garnered a reputation as an unsafe city with poor regard for the safety and security of its citizens. Thank God Cal State Long Beach has its own University Police. Hopefully between the two, safety here won’t begin to resemble the lack of safety present off campus.
