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Mixed messages on graffiti in Nueces County: Will 8 year sentence solve anything?

I'm sure the judge who gave this sentence did so believing it would "send a message," but the message it sends to me is that the judge has no sense of proportion:A south Texas district judge has sentenced an 18-year-old man to eight years in prison for habitually vandalizing property with graffiti. Sebastian Perez had pleaded guilty in a Corpus Christi state district court to three graffiti charges, as well as to marijuana possession. Perez told the judge that spray-painting graffiti had become became a habit, but he stopped when he realized it was getting him nowhere. He cried and asked for probation, saying he would finish high school, get a job and help clean up the mess. The judge, unmoved, assessed the maximum sentence. Police say Perez spray-painted more than two dozen properties from March to August...continue to full post

Full post as published by Grits for Breakfast on December 13, 2009 (boomark / email).