I must admit to being a little shocked yesterday when the judge in the Dharun Ravi sentencing gave the 20-year-old former Rutgers student a toungue-lashing, then turned around and tapped him on the wrist.

I advocated leniency, but I never expected a 30-day sentence.

Ravi could have gotten 10 years in prison for his webcam spying of Clementi, who was having sex with another man.

Still, the case is about an invasion of privacy and not the death of Tyler Clementi. When you consider how Ravi has spent nearly 2 years waiting for his ultimate sentence, 30 days and  a 3 year conditional probation period seems more fair than not.

To demand more would be to scapegoat Ravi for all the homophobia in society. Ravi’s privacy breach  alone didn’t drive Clementi to despair. There are other forces at play that contributed to Clementi’s overall mindset.

In the end, the judge was right. He managed to disappoint both sides. And I guess that’s as close as it gets these days to balancing the scales of justice. 

See my orignal blog post at the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund blog.