You often hear the phrase “Make the punishment fit the crime.” Judges often try to do this when handing out sentences, but sometimes that leads to bizarre plans that cause public outrage or go against our supposedly impartial legal structure. Sometimes they get creative, which may be appropriate to deter further crime, or may be just silly. Judge Michael A. Cicconetti of the Painesville Municipal Court in Ohio is famous for his “outside the box” sentences.
Just when you think this judge might run out of creative punishments, Judge Michael Cicconetti orders a women who stiffed a cabbie out of his fare to walk 30 miles. It was 60 days in jail or a 30 mile hike, the distance of the cab ride she took for free. Offender Victoria Bascom chose to walk off her punishment, according to Cleveland 19.com. Judge Cicconetti believes in giving people a taste of their own medicine and has made offenders do novel alternatives to jail time like dressing up in chicken suit or spelling out an apology in coins. He also required a women who abandoned kittens in the woods to spend a night in the wild alone, without food or water.
Read about ten such cases with unusual sentences at Money, Inc.
(Image credit: Flickr user janinsanfran)