Reports about female school teachers getting arrested for sexually assaulting their students abounded last summer. I commented by publishing instructive guidelines for dealing with these misguided “sex-ed” teachers.
Punishment for predatory school teachers
This week, the courts handed down sentences against two of them. And I am heartened that the judge followed my sentencing guidelines in each case. Sandra Beth Geisel got six months in jail and ten years probation. And Debra LaFave got three years of house arrest and seven years probation.
Clairvoyant? Not exactly. Sometimes, betting on the triumph of commonsense in the American criminal justice system pays off.
Too pretty to jail
LaFave’s lawyer infamously argued she’s “just too pretty to be locked up.” He reasoned she’d be “like red meat to those animals” in prison.
That’s an argument I would never make. And that lawyer’s reasoning reeks of racism. It’s just that LaFave did not meet my guidelines for doing jail time.
Yet I suspect her lawyer’s contemptible argument may have tempted the judge to sentence her to jail just to punish him. But that would violate all notions of fairness and justice.
Juan J. Noyles says
problem is, she (Lafave) ain’t pretty. she’s already hard, interested only in getting her way. she’d probably wind up running the joint after two hours in, if it took THAT long.
Anonymous says
You are so wrong about this. These woman have no conscience and are a disgrace to the teaching profession. She raped a 14 year old and gets probation? Give me a break! If a guy did this to a 14 year old girl he’d be toast.
Anonymous says
what did they have to do to actually get jail time? there are more things wrong with this sentencing than space allowed….. perhaps we were too busy being disgusted by Terrell Owens to notice the real crime in progress…..
Rage….