Florida man sentenced to 3 years in prison for firebombing California Planned Parenthood clinic
A 21-year-old Florida man was sentenced Monday to three and a half years in prison for firebombing a Southern California Planned Parenthood clinic in 2022, federal prosecutors said.
Xavier Batten pleaded guilty in January to one felony count of possessing an unregistered destructive device and one misdemeanor count of intentionally damaging a reproductive health services facility.
U.S. District Judge Cormac J. Carney also sentenced Batten, of Brooksville, Florida, to three years of probation and ordered him to pay $1,000 in restitution, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said in a statement.
Carney said Batten had committed a “cowardly crime” that showed “no empathy for women and their rights,” according to the statement. He has been in federal custody since July 2023.
I'll never understand sentencing.
Psychologically speaking, perhaps deterrence being a goal of punishment isn't all that effective. I don't know what it would take to persuade a person from such an act, but whatever that is... that's what the prison term needs to be.
I presume these people have radical thinking, so perhaps no amount of prison time, whatever it might, is enough. Especially if they believe they were serving their god in the process. Religion is a powerful driving force. Ugh.
These are the kinds of things that make me less inclined to show compassion to my fellow humans. And I don't like that.
Why can't we have that Gene Roddenberry Star Trek future now? 😭
There was at least one apocalypse-scale event between here and there, so be careful what you're wishing for on that front
Yeah we're about due for the bell riots, aren't we?
September, according to the lore. And the sad part is there's a non-zero chance of it actually happening on schedule.
But we've got the Irish reunification to look forward to, which is nice :)
Didn't those happen in 1971?
Oh, I know. And it was a nasty one at that. We humans are good at making messes. I was literally thinking that as I posted. But... I was also imagining we could fast forward to then. Please?
One can dream.
It really isn't. Most people who plan their crimes tend to have convinced themselves that their cunning plan means they won't get caught.
And (at the other end of the criminal "mastermind" spectrum), crackheads who don't plan their crimes are also not thinking about the possibility of getting caught.
And if you beleive you won't be caught, the potential punishment is irrelevant to you.
That doesn't leave a lot of good options to treat the sickness...
Prevention. Education.
Fixing the core societal issues that have been proven many times to reduce crime.
Poverty, addiction, hopelessness, desperation.
Obviously dealing with those on a societal level is not fast, easy or cheap, but it does actually work. Eventually.
This I'm fully on board with. There's a lot broken that we can actively work on to build a healthier society. I don't see any other obvious preferable routes.
My mind is completely boggled by the state of politics though. Voting for these kinds of programs is one of the most excruciating things to watch flounder. Programs are set up and then they're dismantled a few years later. When things are brighter, some politician comes in and crushes them.
My head spins at the thought of how much money is being spent on all the things that supposedly matter, the corruption surrounding it all, and the privileged protecting the privileged.
Sometimes the glass doesn't seem half full, but instead half empty. I don't like feeling that way, but his political season sure isn't helping.
Why does it always feel like we're simultaneously in the best of times and also the worst of times?