My New Favorite Judge
Meet Peter Olszewski:
Judge Peter Olszewski Jr. gave three criminal defendants a choice: learn English or spend 24 months in the Luzerne County, Pa., jail.
Olszewski issued the unusual sentence after four men pleaded guilty to robbery-related charges through a translator.
“Do you think we are going to supply you with a translator all of your life?” he asked during the plea hearing, according to The Times Leader in Wilkes-Barre, Pa.
One of the defendants was already imprisoned on drug-related charges; the other three were given immediate parole. Those men, all resident aliens, are due back in court next year.
At that time, Olszewski says he’ll administer an English test. If they pass the test and prove they’ve earned GEDs and found full-time jobs, the judge says he’ll let them go about their lives.
“If they don’t pass, they’re going in for the 24 (months),” Olszewski says, according to the paper.
Times Leader of Wilkes-Barre has more detail on the crime, the time, etc. And Olszewski’s philosophy and practice of social justice:
“I’d like anyone to tell me that learning the English language is not a good thing,” he (Olszewski) said. “I’d love to hear from them.”
Learning the language could help the suspects, (activist Agapito) Lopez said. But it would not assure them of getting a job – that theory is merely mythical, he said.
“This is a country in which English is not the official language,” he said. “We cannot force people to learn the language.”
Olszewski said the parties can ask him to reconsider the ruling within 10 days. No one, he said, objected to the ruling in court Tuesday. Olszewski is unaware of whether this condition had been previously imposed.
It’s not the first creative sentence Olszewski has imposed. He regularly orders defendants to get and maintain a full-time job, but also helps them find work. He has his tipstaff, Ron Zukosky, coordinate with an employment agency to find the defendants work. The judge also has ordered young defendants who dropped out of school to return and finish school.
“There’s no way young kids can be hurt by knowing how to read and write the English language.”
Agapito Lopez, who pops on stage in this story like a harlequin – not actually seen by the principals but a nuisance nonetheless — is identified in this article as a local Latino community activist. Hard to tell whether that’s a full-time pursuit or if he has a real job involving actual work and community activism is a non-paying hobby. Anyway, Lopez has enough time on his hands that he’s going to take this up with the ACLU. Even though the defendants, when offered a chance to better themselves and avoid their well-earned time behind bars, appear to have determined learning English is in their best interest.
Webby said his role as an attorney requires him to look at the legality of the ruling, but, as a person, he knows Olszewski’s choice is good for his client, Guzman-Mateo.
Guzman-Mateo realizes it, too.
“My client is happy,” Webby said. “I think it’s going to help him. It’s going to help him succeed.”
Topics: English, crime, justice, opportunity, punishment
Posted by Jules Crittenden at 11:09 pm on Thursday, March 27, 2008
4 Responses to “My New Favorite Judge”
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March 28th, 2008 at 1:35 am
The judge is giving those men a tremendous opportunity with this order. And naturally, the “community activist” doesn’t like it. That’s what community activists do. They take action against anything that might actually help the community.
March 28th, 2008 at 2:03 am
“community activist” has become an oxymoron
good on you dear Judge Olszewski Jr
March 28th, 2008 at 1:16 pm
Exactly, FB. Once the community begins to assimilate and better itself, there’s no more need for “community activists”. So I call Mr. Lopez’s obstruction is nothing more than job security for himself.
March 30th, 2008 at 10:25 pm
Frankly, in this case, I’m with the “commhnity activist” (isn’t that what Obama was before he went to Harvard law? So this guy may well be paid by some organ of our government to make useless trouble.) The judge should not have ordered these guys to learn English and get a job. He should have given them those two years in the slammer followed by deportation to where they came from, PDQ. Of course, that might not be exactly what the “community activist” had in mind when he objected to the verdict.