Posted on 03/28/2008 7:33:01 AM PDT by Born Conservative
Kelvin Reyes-Rosario, Luis Reyes, Ricardo Doninguez and Rafael Guzman-Mateo got an incentive to learn English: speaking and writing the language can keep them out of jail.
When Judge Peter Paul Olszewski Jr. sentenced the four Hazleton men to serve four to 24 months for assault on Wednesday in Luzerne County Court, he added a twist.
If they pass an English test a year from now, they will remain free after serving the minimum sentence.
If they fail the test, they go back to prison for the full term.
The creative sentence appealed to some who believe learning English will help the men veer away from crime.
“Good for him. I wish everyone who went to court came out with an order like that,” said Anna Arias, who has worked as a court translator and helps teach English as a second language in Hazleton.
Others raised practical questions about the sentence, such as what test the men must pass, who will teach them and who will pay for the teaching.
“That’s just one level. The other level is a concern about why you would impose this sentence,” said Mary Catherine Roper, an attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union in Philadelphia.
Roper said judges have wide discretion to set terms of parole. Requirements to find a job, finish school and attend drug treatment programs are common.
Each requirement reduces a known risk of criminal behavior.
“I’m not aware of any evidence that learning English helps keep somebody out of trouble,” she said.
The ACLU looked at the sentence with interest because last year the group won a challenge in federal court against a Hazleton law that penalized people for hiring or renting to illegal immigrations, a law that originally made English the city’s official language.
“Last year, Mayor (Lou) Barletta was shouting at the rooftops that immigrants were causing a crime wave in Hazleton. When you look at the statistics, immigrants are far less likely to commit a crime,” Roper said.
Mark Bergstrom, director of the Pennsylvania Commission on Sentencing, said a state parole board rather than the judge might decide whether any of the defendants would have to return to jail.
“Regarding specific conditions of probation and parole, I don’t know that I’ve heard of this language requirement,” Bergstrom said.
He said sentences could be upheld when they rehabilitate defendants or reduce the likelihood of a return to jail.
“You can make a pretty good argument that most things can be considered as conditions of probation or parole,” he said.
Hazleton police Chief Robert Ferdinand said the sentence made practical sense.
“Judge Olszewski is not forcing them to learn English; he is giving them a very strong incentive to learn it,” Ferdinand wrote in an e-mail.
The men can always choose not to learn English and accept the longer sentences, he said.
“Learning it on their part would be the beginning of a demonstration of an active interest in being a somewhat productive member of our society if they do stay in our country. Learning English gives them a chance to do something other than engage in criminal activity, since they are already at such a deficit educationally. Considering the crimes they committed, more should be required of them,” he said.
The four, whom police said belong to a gang, were charged with participating in an assault and robbery of two men on Locust Street alongside the Vine Street Cemetery on May 29, 2007.
A handgun was brandished, and one of the victims was hit with a rawhide dog bone, police said.
On Wednesday, three of the men were released from prison because they already served the minimum sentences, whereas Reyes-Rosario remained in jail for an unrelated drug charge.
Dr. Agapito Lopez, a leader of the Latino community in Hazleton, was uncomfortable with the precedent the sentence set.
“It is a wonderful thing for them to learn English and for them to get a GED and get a job. I don’t know if it will make them better citizens,” Lopez said.
The four have one year to learn English, an assignment that Lopez said could take as many as seven years.
Lopez also wonders what method of test will be given.
A parole officer asked Catholic Social Services, where Arias works, about tutoring and was told all the programs have a long waiting list.
“We would be glad to do this. We need the resources, and we need the funds,” she said.
I can see the ACLU fighting this and winning on the grounds you cannot make them learn a new language as a punishment/restitution for a crime ( cruel and unusual ).
If illegal deport them.
Their status doesn’t matter.
They will agree to the plea and when they are out, they’ll get into the “undocumented worker” pipeline, assume new identities and be working in a restaurant in Springfield, MO or a Landscaper in Franklin, KY within a week.
We’ll never hear of the result (one way or the other) but Judge Olszewski just got his few moments of press/fame.
Until they assign a term that can be contested under the 5th and 8th.
If they are illegals, the ruling may form the basis for future legal decisions based on learning english and getting jobs. If this is OK for these men, why not for all illegals? If this makes them “better citizens” then the law already sees them as citizens based on this decision.
Using state power for social engineering - again.
Punishment should be meted out for the crime committed. Period.
Beyond that, just leave people the heck alone. No more make-up credit for term papers applauding sodomy. No more salary bonuses for “gender(sic)-sensitivity” training. No more reduced sentences for giving up transfats or learning English.
In short, no more state-sponsored rewards for conforming to the social agenda du jour.
As I was told one time by the chairman of a PA Common Pleas Court arbitration panel, "a judge's ruling is the LAW." It doesn't matter if the judge's finding of facts is correct or if she has a personal ax to grind. Makes you long for the Napoleonic "civil law."
Lessee...armed robbery, and a former drug conviction, and we’ll just teach them English, and they’ll be law-abiding citizens...er, aliens.
Legal or illegal, kick their asses back over the border.
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