| The greatest injustice is not to be comfortable with yourself. — Bill Purdin Fortune can, for her pleasure, fools advance, And toss them on the wheels of Chance. — Juvenal I discovered [punishment] accomplishes nothing of value; it doesn’t make anything better; it costs us a lot of money; we create a lot of expectation, and we feed our anger. The one message I want to get through is that anger and doesn’t solve anything. It just corrodes your soul . — Judge Edward Cashman speaking to a packed Burlington courtroom on January 4, 2006, after sentencing a man who raped a seven-year-old girl many, many times for a four-year period, for only 60 days in jail. Judge Cashman has served on the bench for 25 years and, up to this decision, was the darling of conservatives for his regular and dependably harsh sentences. He stated that his sentence would guarantee that the convicted man would receive quality sex offender treatment as rehabilitation, or then if that part of the sentence was not fulfilled and verified, face a life sentence in prison without parole. |
