| Comment | Yes to repercussions, no to 'punishment'. That's not what sentencing (in this country) is for. The criminal justice system is predominantly concerned with rehabilitation and assessed threats to society.
The fact he hasn't received prison time is because there is no benefit to be gained by anyone (the victim, the perpetrator, society in general) in doing so - society does not need protection from him due to the assessed risk of reoffence, the damage done to the victim is in no way ameliorated by it, and his rehabilitation is better served outside of that system.
Of course I'm not going to argue that the decision to go so far as absolute discharge is completely justifiable, but there is a reason the case is assessed openly using as much background information as possible using sentencing guidelines and an independent judiciary. The judgement reflects the particularities of this case, which includes in this case a discussion of the criminal intent. |
|---|