Justice and Mercy

I know a man who once said, the problem with making a rule is that somebody will try to enforce it. That quote comes to mind ass I hear stories about Genarlow Wilson, the young black man given 10 years to serve in jail for having consensual oral sex with a girl two years younger than himself. The law under which he was convicted has been recognized as wrong and changed by the legislature. But efforts to get him freed have so far been fought by Attorney General Thurbert Baker on the basis that the law must be upheld.

It is right and necessary that most laws be strictly enforced. Many is the day when I wish our traffic laws were more fully enforced - though even there exceptions sometimes have to be made. When my granddaughter is about to be born in a few days it is quite possible that she and her husband will break a few laws in getting to the hospital. We simply can't function very well if laws are violated all of the time.

Still, sometimes common sense and mercy have to come into play, and I believe that is the situation with Genarlow Wilson. How anyone could think of a ten year jail sentence for what he did is beyond me, regardless of how you view the ethics of the situation. It's just crazy. And the idea that you now have to keep him in jail because th e law demands it is more than I can understand. You are talking about doing damage to a young man's life just to maintain the integrity of a law that has been overturned because it had no integrity to begin with. I don't get it.

The young man has served more time already than his actions justify. let him out. To keep him in jail is a travesty.

Jimmy