ROFL I just read this article at skynews.co.uk, these have to be the most unusual, funniest and wierdest punishments a court has given
Now people should think twice before commiting a crime in lake county
Judge's Wacky Justice
Updated: 11:21, Thursday December 08, 2005
A teenager was told to sit blindfolded outside a porn shop he stole from by an American judge who has found fame for his creative sentences.
Judge Mike Cicconetti also ordered the 18-year-old to carry a sign saying "see no evil".
The ruling is among a series of wacky punishments which are an alternative to prison and designed the fit to crime.
One man caught with a loaded gun was sent to a morgue to see dead bodies while a woman who abandoned 35 kittens in a forest was told to spend a night in the woods.
A defendant who called a police officer a pig spent two hours inside a pen with a pig, complete with a sign saying: "This is not a police officer."
Meanwhile, two teenagers who scrawled 666 on a nativity figure of Jesus also got a taste of the judge's justice.
They had to lead a donkey through the streets, with a sign saying: "Sorry for the jackass offence."
Judge Cicconetti, 54, has been elected to another six years on the bench in Lake County, Ohio, and won the presidency of the American Judges Association.
During recent heavy blizzards, he ordered defendants - who can choose jail or the alternative justice - to clear snow.
He told The Times: "What could be better than shovelling snow for senior citizens?
"Do we serve the community better like that or by putting someone in jail at a cost of $70 (£45) a day?"
He added: "People will say the punishments are cruel and unusual, but what is cruel and unusual punishment? Is it a little bit of embarrassment and humiliation?"
Not all of the judge's punishments have gone to plan.
A drink-driver who ran away from police was ordered to run in a race and his finishing position would determine his sentence. He trained hard, finished fifth and spent five days in jail.
However, days later, he used his new found fitness to snatch a women's purse. He was jailed by another court.
Updated: 11:21, Thursday December 08, 2005
A teenager was told to sit blindfolded outside a porn shop he stole from by an American judge who has found fame for his creative sentences.
Judge Mike Cicconetti also ordered the 18-year-old to carry a sign saying "see no evil".
The ruling is among a series of wacky punishments which are an alternative to prison and designed the fit to crime.
One man caught with a loaded gun was sent to a morgue to see dead bodies while a woman who abandoned 35 kittens in a forest was told to spend a night in the woods.
A defendant who called a police officer a pig spent two hours inside a pen with a pig, complete with a sign saying: "This is not a police officer."
Meanwhile, two teenagers who scrawled 666 on a nativity figure of Jesus also got a taste of the judge's justice.
They had to lead a donkey through the streets, with a sign saying: "Sorry for the jackass offence."
Judge Cicconetti, 54, has been elected to another six years on the bench in Lake County, Ohio, and won the presidency of the American Judges Association.
During recent heavy blizzards, he ordered defendants - who can choose jail or the alternative justice - to clear snow.
He told The Times: "What could be better than shovelling snow for senior citizens?
"Do we serve the community better like that or by putting someone in jail at a cost of $70 (£45) a day?"
He added: "People will say the punishments are cruel and unusual, but what is cruel and unusual punishment? Is it a little bit of embarrassment and humiliation?"
Not all of the judge's punishments have gone to plan.
A drink-driver who ran away from police was ordered to run in a race and his finishing position would determine his sentence. He trained hard, finished fifth and spent five days in jail.
However, days later, he used his new found fitness to snatch a women's purse. He was jailed by another court.
Comment