CBS: Mother Cuts Off Daughter’s Ponytail In Court, Valerie Bruno files complaints, judge orders Nikon, Mother to cut daughter's ponytail in court---Judge orders mom to lop off daughter's ponytail in court: Sleep in a doghouse rather than jail, walk through town with a humiliating sign or cut off a child’s ponytail as eye-for-eye punishment. Such unconventional sentences that shame defendants are steadily increasing and turning state courts into circus shows, a legal scholar said Monday.
“This is part of a disturbing trend that has developed in the last 20 years,” said Jonathan Turley, a professor at George Washington University. “These are punishments that often appeal to the public and bring a type of instant gratification for the court.”
Turley said the most recent example occurred in Utah when a 13-year-old girl went to court for cutting a 3-year-old girl’s hair into a bob with dollar-store scissors.
The teen and her 11-year-old friend were referred to court for the March incident involving the toddler and for harassing another girl in Colorado by telephone.
The judge agreed to cut back community service time if the mother of the teen chopped off her daughter’s ponytail in court.
The mother has since filed a formal complaint, saying the judge at the May hearing intimidated her into the eye-for-an-eye penalty.
“I fail to see how the court reducing itself to the level of a 13-year-old teaches a moral let alone legal lesson,” Turley said. “The court was doing precisely what the 13-year-old did to a child.”
“This is part of a disturbing trend that has developed in the last 20 years,” said Jonathan Turley, a professor at George Washington University. “These are punishments that often appeal to the public and bring a type of instant gratification for the court.”
Turley said the most recent example occurred in Utah when a 13-year-old girl went to court for cutting a 3-year-old girl’s hair into a bob with dollar-store scissors.
The teen and her 11-year-old friend were referred to court for the March incident involving the toddler and for harassing another girl in Colorado by telephone.
The judge agreed to cut back community service time if the mother of the teen chopped off her daughter’s ponytail in court.
The mother has since filed a formal complaint, saying the judge at the May hearing intimidated her into the eye-for-an-eye penalty.
“I fail to see how the court reducing itself to the level of a 13-year-old teaches a moral let alone legal lesson,” Turley said. “The court was doing precisely what the 13-year-old did to a child.”
