You know what. when I first started writing this I was unsure how I felt about what this judge did but from the time I wrote the title and started writing it I became sure. I like the judge. Even if it’s not the perfectly right, he did the awesome thing. And sometimes awesome makes up for lack of moral clarity.
Here’s the deal, according to Yahoo.com:
A mom who felt “intimidated” when a juvenile court judge offered to reduce her teenage daughter’s sentence if she agreed to cut off the 13-year-old’s ponytail in court has filed a complaint against him.
Valerie Bruno of Price, Utah, filed a formal complaint with the Utah Judicial Conduct Commission against Scott Johansen, a judge in the 7th District, Utah’s Deseret News reports. In May, Johansen ordered Bruno’s daughter, Kaytlen Lopan, to serve 30 days in detention and perform 276 hours of community service for cutting off a 3-year-old’s hair.
According to police, Lopan and her 11-year-old friend “endeared themselves” to the 3-year-old girl at McDonald’s in Price, then used scissors to “cut several inches of hair from the little girl’s head.”
“She definitely needed to be punished for what had happened,” Bruno told Deseret News. “But I never dreamt it would be that much of a punishment.”
Johansen offered to reduce the sentence to 126 hours of community service if her Bruno cut off her daughter’s ponytail in the courtroom.
“I’m going to give you this option: I will cut that by 150 hours if you want to cut her hair right now,” Johansen said in court.
“Me, cut her hair?” Bruno asked.
“Right now,” the judge said. “I’ll go get a pair of scissors and we’ll whack that ponytail off.”
Bruno reluctantly agreed.
“I felt very intimidated,” Bruno said. “An eye for an eye, that’s not how you teach kids right from wrong.”
According to the Associated Press, Mindy Moss, the mother of the 3-year-old, approved the sentence and “even spoke up during the hearing when she felt Bruno had not cut off enough of her daughter’s hair.” Johansen told Bruno to cut the ponytail “all the way ‘to the rubber band.'”
Johansen ordered the friend of Bruno’s daughter–who helped cut the 3-year-old’s hair–to “have her hair cut as short as his.” The friend, though, was “allowed to go to a salon to have it done, then return to the courtroom to ensure that the new hairstyle met with the judge’s approval.”
Yup. I like the dude. This is awesome.
June 25, 2012 at 7:29 pm
Do unto others as you would be done unto.
June 25, 2012 at 7:38 pm
Why was this even in the court to begin with? We're talking about a 13 year old, it is the parents job to punish her for a stupid prank. Although, cutting off her own hair is an effective punishment. It could even be made a "natural consequences" – cut off her hair and donate it to a kid without hair (not necessarily the 3 year old).
June 25, 2012 at 8:08 pm
I have to disagree here. Without commenting on this specifics of this case (about which I know only what is in the article), I don't think we need a creative judiciary. There is simply too much room for abuse of power when punishments can seemingly take any form.
June 25, 2012 at 8:25 pm
That hair needed cuttin'!
June 25, 2012 at 10:32 pm
If the original sentence of 30 days and 276 hours of community service was a reasonable/just punishment, then I have no problem with giving them the OPTION of reducing it by VOLUNTARILY undergoing the haircut.
June 25, 2012 at 11:18 pm
What Richard said.
Someone wants to be Judge Judy.
June 26, 2012 at 2:49 am
Sorry, but absent the transcendental doctrines of Christianity (or maybe Buddhism), the only logical form for justice to take is an eye for an eye. And indeed, absent Christian charity or Buddhist compassion, whether the act was intentional is irrelevant; every ancient system of justice was based on the idea "harm was done, a price must be paid"—we don't care if you meant it.
June 26, 2012 at 4:47 am
why is this even in court?!? seriously? can't the parents deal with this on their own? (apologize, do something to show you're sorry, etc.)
June 26, 2012 at 4:44 pm
Good.
If it's a "silly prank" to chop off a tiny little girl's hair after pretending to be her friend, then there should be no big problem with the girl having her hair cut; if chopping off someone's hair is a really big deal, then….
Incidentally, cutting someone's hair off is assault. Would people be saying "this is no big deal" if the teenagers had chopped the little girl's clothing off? You can change clothes. Hair, especially a girl's hair, is a big deal.
Two teenage girls victimized a little girl. It's a dang good thing they didn't do it to MY little girl– who is two and a half, and whose hair has also never been cut– because I would probably have been breaking hands if I found a couple of teenagers standing over my crying little girl with scissors.
June 26, 2012 at 4:49 pm
Anon-
No, the parents clearly cannot deal with this on their own. That's why the Bruno woman is complaining about her daughter's hair being cut after she did it to someone else. It's kindergarten justice– Kid 1 dumps out Kid 2's chocolate milk, you take away Kid 2's chocolate milk– because that's the maturity level they're working in.
James Lileks got it right– All of civilization depends on the majority of its citizens not taunting the bus monitor just because they can. It’s all down to that. Behave.