Justice is Truth in Action
This case involves a fifteen-year-old boy who was caught stealing from a local store. While trying to escape from the hold of the security guard, a shelf in the store was also broken.
The judge listened to the arguments. He then asked the boy, "Did you really steal something, a loaf of bread and cheese?"
The boy responded by looking down, "Yes."
The judge asked, "Why?"
The boy, "I needed something to eat."
The judge said, "You could have bought."
The boy, "There was no money at home."
The judge, "I could’ve taken it from the family."
The boy, "We only have our mother in the house. She’s sick and unemployed. I stole for my sister, my mother, and myself to have something to eat."
The judge said, "Are you not in school? or don't you do anything?"
The boy, "I dropped out of school due to a lack of school fees and food. I used to wash cars to get some money. "When I took a day off to take care of my mother, I was fired."
The judge said, "Don’t you ask someone for help?"
"I had left the house since morning," the boy explained, and he went to about twenty people. “I took this step of stealing at the very end."
When the arguments ended, the judge began to make the sentence: "The theft, and specifically the theft of bread, is a very reprehensible crime. We are all responsible for this crime."
The judge continued, "Every person in the court, including me, is a culprit, so every person present here is fined twenty dollars. "No one can get out of here without giving me twenty dollars."
After making the sentence, the judge took twenty dollars out of his pocket and then picked up the pen and started writing. "Additionally, the store manager is fined $1,000 for handing over a hungry child to the police." "If the penalty is not deposited within 24 hours, the court will order to close the store."
"Finally, the local councilor is fined $2,000 for community neglect."
By giving the full amount of the fine to this boy, the court asked for forgiveness from that boy.
Tears flowed from the eyes of those in the court after hearing the verdict. The boy kept watching the judge, who couldn’t hide his tears.
Are our society, systems, and courts ready for such a decision?
If a hungry child is caught stealing bread, then the people of that community should be ashamed!