By Ashley Reynolds, Staff Writer
The United States Military Academy at West Point is taking one of its former employees to court. She could end up with two years in prison for her heinous crime: stealing a bag of meatballs.
This vile criminal mastermind, Estelle Casimir, was caught by the operations manager, who saw her trying to smuggle a black bag downstairs. She claimed it was garbage, but after some probing, finally revealed her bag of stolen goods.
Casimir faces two misdemeanors: stealing property and possessing stolen property. Each count is worth a year in jail and a thousand dollar fine. Those are some really, really expensive meatballs if you ask me.
It brings up yet again the question we’re constantly asking ourselves: is our justice system working?
Ma’lik Richmond, one of the convicted Steubenville rapists, received a sentence of two years in a juvenile correctional facility, while the other, Trent Mays, received one year. I don’t even need to mention Lindsay Lohan and the scores of other celebrities that are in and out of jail in days. The potential that this woman, a poor housekeeper who took a bag of meatballs worth less than twenty dollars, could get a heavier sentence is horrifying.
No, I do not condone stealing. Thieves should be punished, yes. However, West Point could have handled the situation a number of different ways, all of which are more reasonable. They could have given her a warning or contacted her employer, Watson Services, and requested she be relocated. Instead, she is being sent to court and Watson Services, where she has worked for 28 years, has suspended her.
If Casimir has no money to buy meatballs, how can we expect her to have money to hire a lawyer? More money means better lawyers which means less jail time. Again, remember Lindsay Lohan. She stole a $2,500 necklace while already on probation. Her crime was reduced to a misdemeanor (the same charge Casimir faces) and she was sentenced to four months in jail, less than Casimir faces for her first offense. Five hours later, Lohan was released on $75,000 bail, something Casimir would never have the money to pay.
Courts shouldn’t work differently for the rich, but they do. Laws remain the same, and the courts remain the same, but the wealthy can afford better lawyers and afford to pay their way out of jail. Should we somehow reform this? Is it even possible?
Some might say our jails are already overpopulated; we don’t need celebrities like Lohan taking up extra space. If they’re overpopulated, why not let Casimir and others like her go with community service? So many people are in jail for such minor offenses. Why not let those people off? Have them clean the roads, work the morgues, tidy the courtrooms.
It’s likely Casimir is going to be terminated from her job if convicted anyway. She’s already suspended, and employers stay away from convicts like they have herpes. Putting her in jail will only make the problem worse here. If she’s poor enough to steal a bag of meatballs while she’s employed, what will she do when she has no job? Paradoxically, putting her in jail might cause her to commit crimes out of desperation.
No, we shouldn’t let people off scot-free. Casimir did commit a crime. However, there’s no need to turn her into a veritable Jean Valjean. We need to take a long, hard look at our legal system and question what’s the best thing to do. It won’t be easy, but at this point, it’s necessary.
