It is not just the fact that rapists, molesters, thieves and dare I say, murderers and crooked cops get away with suspended sentences and probation. What is really on my mind right now is how serious offenders (and I guess some less serious ones) are required to write letters to people like me in the newspaper, that do nothing but insult my intelligence and make me wonder what it is that I am paying taxes for.
Of course I am referring to the letters of “apology” from convicted crooks. These disingenuous letters serve no real purpose and have no value in the remediation of these miscreants. Apology letters are a tactic used in middle school by teachers to reprimand naughty kids, not some three-time loser who gets caught burglarizing a home.
And what, pray tell are these criminals sorry for? From reading these letters, it seems that they are sorry for getting caught. These letters only rub our (The taxpayers) noses in the filth that our prosecutors, judges and the parents of these crooks failed to clean up in the first place!
It is not the letters in and of themselves, that I find offensive, but the fact that instead of real punishment for real crimes, these outlaws are telling the rest of us law-abiding citizens that we are victims and this is the best our government will do to protect us.
Maybe some of these criminals are truly sorry, but sorry just doesn’t cut it for the victim. There must be retribution and punishment for misdeeds.
There must be dire consequences, or there is no point in having a law. “It is better to be feared than loved,” said Niccolo Machiavelli. People obey the law when they fear it. In the CNMI, there is nothing to fear.
You judges out there do not do anything to make the unjust fear you or the law. That needs to change. We have a huge federally funded prison. We should use it!
But until that actually happens, you, the judges of the CNMI can at least do us all a favor. Stop insulting the public by having these offenders waste our time with these insulting letters. No amount of words or ink can undo a crime. It is ridiculous and it makes our judicial system look less serious than the Bozo the Clown show.
MITCH WESTLAND
Tanapag, Saipan
