Friday, March 19, 2010

Argentina: Convicted skinheads to work at Holocaust Museum

The following sounds like a modern-day O. Henry story.

Last August a pair of Argentine skinheads were arrested for vandalizing a synagogue and other buildings with anti-Semitic graffiti. They were subsequently convicted for their crime and, in an ingenious twist, will be forced to work for fifty hours at Buenos Aires’ Holocaust Museum. Aside from janitorial duties the skinheads will also have to participate in "educational and cultural activities” held at the museum.

The prosecutor in charge of their case hopes that the pair will learn more than the axiom that crime doesn’t pay:
“The law is granting them a chance to face reality. With this probation we hope that they may be truly aware of what they did,” said…Luis Duacastella Arbizu. – [ed. Translated text]
One can easily call it a case of the punishment fitting the crime.

Image- BBC News (Please note that this image of painted swastikas are not those mentioned in the aforementioned Buenos Aires case).
Online Sources- Wikipedia, ABC.es, Clarin

1 comment:

Renee said...

I think that this is a great idea. It punishes while it educates. Part of the justice system should be rehabilitation so that these criminals can actually participate in society when they are done paying for their crime