To say our criminal justice system is out of its mind on this one would very much be an understatement.  It makes you really question whether the “holding people accountable for their actions” aspect of our criminal justice system has been thrown out the window.  I am under the impression that the purpose of incarceration is ultimately about punishment, accountability and rehabilitation, but can someone be rehabilitated with book reports? 

According to a US District Judge up in the Bay Area, they can be.  In fact, she just gave an ultimatum to a defendant that he can go to jail or read a book and write a book report once a day.  Just an FYI, the defendant was on trial for trying to sell a grenade launcher to an undercover federal agent this past March.  Yeah, I said “GRENADE LAUNCHER.”  I wonder what he thought the undercover agent was going to use it for, trimming his hedges.   Anyway, regardless of what we think, the judge felt that the defendant should be released to the care of his grandmother and ordered to read a book for at least an hour a day, and then write reports on those books.

What do you think?  Will this guy stay on the straight and narrow with this kind of punishment?  Maybe he will be so busy reading and writing book reports that he won’t have any more time to TRY AND SELL A GRENADE LAUNCHER TO AN UNDERCOVER AGENT!!!!!  And by the way, the grenade launcher incident ended in a gunfight before the defendant was arrested.

Once again, what do you think?  Is the pen mightier than the grenade launcher?  Should a book report replace a bail bond?  Is this an appropriate punishment? Or has our criminal justice system lost its mind?

Read the original article below.

Original aricle: Write a book report, avoid jail: Judge orders man freed if he commits to literature