Who wants to see this?
Pedophile’s bashing windfall
July 21, 2006
SYDNEY - A convicted pedophile bashed unconscious in his Sydney jail cell was today awarded more than $175,000 compensation, a decision the NSW Opposition has labelled a disgrace.
but moments later:
But under new government laws, the money awarded to Peter Andrew Bujdoso will be frozen for six months to allow his victim to claim a slice of the payout.
I don’t feel good about it but this put a smile on my face.
I don’t know. It’s kind of a double edged sword. The pedo’s victim can get some. This is good. But the pedo gets some, too. This is bad. Frankly, I don’t think criminals ought to be awarded monetary settlements. The guy was assaulted – sure, something I’m sure a lot of people cheered about – but assault is a criminal offense, not a civil one. The one who committed the assault ought to be punished as justice warrants and the victim perhaps given some extra leisure time to recover. There shouldn’t be money involved. Or even if there is, a) not quite so much and b) the majority of it should go to the guy’s victim(s) in one capacity or another, not just a “slice.”
I think the civil component comes in from the direction that while someone’s in custody of State Corrections they are supposed to make sure nobody else does violence to the inmate.