Wednesday, July 8, 2009

Was Justice Served?

Crystal Keith, the aunt of the late Christopher L. Thomas (pictured on left), had already been convicted of murdering him and of torturing his sister. Yesterday, she received her sentence, which was the full sentence allowed by the law, 50 tears in prison and another 25 years on extended supervision.

But was justice done?

In the metaphysical sense, justice could never be done, since no amount of punishment would bring Christopher back to life and restore all wrongs done to him and his sister.

Since Christopher and his sister cannot be made whole again, the question turns to does the punishment fit the crime? Some people would say that it does. I'm not so sure.

The defense had argued that Keith suffered from mental illnesses, specifically depression and schizophrenia. This is plausible, although I don't know if any psychological evaluations were done and what the results of any evaluations might have been. Many accounts that I have read include people commenting about Keith's flat affect (failure to show any emotions on her face). This is a common feature of people receiving treatment for schizophrenia.

Maybe I find the defense of mental illness plausible just because I find it hard to believe that any normal person would be able to do this willingly against two small children.

So, giving Keith the benefit of the doubt, if she was indeed truly insane, how responsible should she be held for her crime? Obviously, if she was truly insane, she would not be aware of the wrongness of her deeds and she would not have tried to hide them from social workers and from family members. If she was not aware, it would be another crime to punish her for something she had no rational control over.

However, if she was truly insane, that should have been held into account during the sentencing. Apparently, based on the reported court proceedings, any mental illnesses were found not to be a significant factor that would offer themselves to be a mitigating cause to her behavior. Not being privy to any reports, I cannot nor would not argue in favor or in opposition of such findings.

In other words, the court found Keith to be aware of the difference between right and wrong, and sentenced her appropriately. This is especially true considering the severity and brutality of her crimes.

So, one can argue, the sentencing was fitting for the crime. But the question still remains: Was justice served?

I would have to say no.

The situation that allowed this tragedy to occur still remains the same. The child welfare system in Milwaukee County has not changed. Oh sure, there are some new names and faces, but the system overall remains unchanged.

This is despite several politicians, like State Senator Alberta Darling, promising to "fix things" and bring forth several new laws to improve the system. Yet nothing has changed.

I had hopes that since Milwaukee County's child welfare system was ruined in a budget proposal in 1996, that they state would use the most recent budget proposal process to put in a fix. I should have know better. Neither Governor Doyle nor any single member of the state legislature offered one piece that would have changed the broken system that our children are still being exposed to.

There has been no changes to Kinship Care. There have been no changes to the child welfare system or how it operates. All remains in its dysfunctional splendor.

Until the significant, positive changes are made to the foster care system, Christopher Thomas, I am sad to say, just might have died in vain. And for him and his sister to suffer such pain, such torture, and such a nightmare, and have nothing change to prevent further incidents like this from happening, is simply an injustice.

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