Thursday, March 12, 2009

Let the punishment fit the crime

The Iraqi who threw his shoes at President Bush was sentenced today to 3 years in jail. While throwing your shoes at someone is rude, I do not think the punishment fits the crime in this case. Islamic nations seem to have some very harsh punishments. Thankfully the US Constitution has many protections such as the 8th Amendment that says "Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted."

If someone threw their shoe at someone in the US, I wonder what the likely punishment would be?


For more info see:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090312/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_iraq
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Retributive_justice
http://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution/constitution.billofrights.html#amendmentviii