A woman who killed an 87-year-old Broadway vocal coach by pushing her to the ground in New York City pleaded guilty Wednesday and will be sentenced to eight years in prison, the district attorney said.

Lauren Pazienza, now 28, shoved Barbara Maier Gustern to the ground from behind in the Chelsea neighborhood on March 10, 2022, officials said at the time.

  • bitsplease
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    1 year ago

    You clearly have no idea what life with a serious criminal record is like if you think she’s going to be able to just pick up where she left off when she gets out (nevermind the lost 8 years).

    Don’t get me wrong, what she did was fucked up, but an eye for an eye makes the whole world blind, and it sounds like the only sentence you’d have been happy with is more or less life in prison. She didn’t set out to kill this lady, even in the heat of the moment. It’s beyond fucked up to shove an old lady in any case, and every single day of those 8 years is well earned, but I don’t agree that it’s light.

    As a society we need to get over this idea that the goal of prison is to punish the perpetrators. The point should be to rehabilitate them so that when they get out they can be decent law abiding, productive members of society. A person rotting in prison for the rest of their life does nothing but waste tax dollars and cause misery. A person rehabilitated can go on to make the world a tiny bit better, and maybe even help someone else from going down the same fucked up path she did.

    Its a fact that countries whose prison systems are centered around rehabilitation have lower repeat offender rates

      • bitsplease
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        1 year ago

        Unfortunately it happens in every discussion about a heinous crime (which this is, don’t get me wrong). If the offender was a man, the comment section would be filled with rape jokes, as though that were an acceptable part of any modern justice system

    • lightnsfw@reddthat.com
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      1 year ago

      Her family is wealthy, she’ll be fine when she gets out. If we were using an eye for an eye she’d be executed.

      As for rehabilitation, there are 8 billion people on this planet. We can afford to dump the shitty ones in dark hole for the rest of their lives. There’s more than enough good people that need help and aren’t getting it those resources could go to.

      • Cryophilia@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        We can afford to dump the shitty ones in dark hole for the rest of their lives.

        We literally can’t, it’s very expensive

        • lightnsfw@reddthat.com
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          1 year ago

          I don’t know about that. There’s a place down the road from me that rents excavators for a lot cheaper than you’d think.