McIntire, a 19-year-old student at Boston’s University of Massachusetts, appeared in federal court Friday and has been charged with one count of unlawful possession of an unregistered destructive device and one count of malicious damage by fire of any property used in interstate commerce.

https://archive.ph/PI9fY

  • magnetosphere@fedia.io
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    118
    arrow-down
    1
    ·
    16 hours ago

    Yes, arson is a crime, and rightly so. “Decades behind bars”, however, for setting two cars on fire (and damaging two charging stations) is insanely disproportionate. There’s a very important reason that not all infractions are sentenced to the maximum possible extent:

    If the government is going to drop any pretense of mercy or sanity, then there’s no reason why people shouldn’t take their time, plan things carefully, and destroy the whole dealership. People who would otherwise do less damage are taking note. Sure, some will be scared away, but I think more will be emboldened. Maybe I’m wrong, but it doesn’t matter. Either way, the end result will be worse.

    The government is basically telling people that prosecutors won’t be reasonable, so you might as well make sure the crime is truly worthy of the punishment. I cannot overemphasize what a terrible idea this is.

    • evilcultist@sh.itjust.works
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      10
      ·
      edit-2
      10 hours ago

      Her punishment should be at least as bad as the sentences rioters served for breaking into the U.S. capitol. Or maybe that should be the cap since her actions didn’t result in death and weren’t intended as an attempt at insurrection (unless someone that owns Tesla is now considered the head of government).

    • PaupersSerenade@sh.itjust.works
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      4
      ·
      9 hours ago

      Absolutely, it’s called a proportional response for a reason. I always think of the West Wing scene when this subject comes up. The whole scene lives in my head rent free to be honest.

    • ouRKaoS@lemmy.today
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      42
      ·
      15 hours ago

      It’s like the zero-tolerance policy my at my kid’s school…

      I told them if you get hit, since you’re going to get suspended anyway, fight back until I get there to pick you up.

      • Grass Cat@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        4
        ·
        2 hours ago

        “zero tolerance” in public schools is 100% copout cowardice from administrators who would rather hide behind policy instead of having to earn their six-figure incomes by making the basic fundamental decisions that the job duties entail. All principals everywhere are midwit cowards.

        • Railing5132@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          1
          ·
          14 minutes ago

          While I agree with the assessment of zero tolerance policies, there isn’t a soul in our entire school district that is making 6 figures. Most of the faculty in our district are barely scraping by because the voters believe this collective delusion that schools have more money than god and are full of wasteful spending. That is a lie promulgated by conservatives to defund schools.

          Stop feeding that lie.