Graffiti girl jailed for first offence

Originally posted by BlesUTP
thats still better than the felony you can be charged with as a graffiti artist in NY currently.

and as a former active graffiti artist, i would know

Same thing in California. This is something I was heavily involved in years ago (before I grew up, got a job and started living as an adult..I admit that graffiti is pointless and mostly the result of people with nothing better to do). I have actually had a felony graffiti investigation and had my house raided. I got away with it because I didn't give the cops any answers. That, and I was honestly innocent of the crimes they were trying to pin on me. What happened was, they were looking for a certain person that was constantly targeting a certain area of this town. They caught two kids in the area, and the kids gave the police my name and the name of my friend.

It's a long story. ANYWAY.

Several people have been charged with felonies related to graffiti in California. They've been giving them out for at least a decade here. After 9/11, they even started putting "street terrorism" enhancements on some people.

I can offer a lot of insight into the politics of graffiti, but my fingers don't have the strength to type that much! What I am willing to say, and the reason I replied, is that much of the time the punishment does not fit the crime.

When I was 13 years old I was walking through a park with a friend of mine. I took down an advertisement that was scotch-taped to a telephone pole and wrote my name on it with a marker...Down the street I had a park ranger recklessly drive his car up on the side walk right behind me and stop me. He had that piece of paper with him. He radioed in for local police. A female officer arrives and searches us, recovering the marker. I am arrested and charged with vandalism. I am ordered to pay about $150 in restitution and to do two weekends of counseling with my mother.

This was for writing on a "job notice" that was scotch taped to a telephone pole. Of course since I was 13 and didn't quite understand the situation, I signed a paper that apparently was a statement given by me that said that I committed a crime and I know what I did was wrong. This pretty much sealed the case.

Needlessly to say, the "counselor" saw how ridiculous this was and told me after a brief talk that I don't have to come back and she would write it off.

I got busted once for a hotel party.

a few underage people .. lol

The state prosecutor wanted to lock me up for a year.

Instead the judge laughed at her and gave me a 75$ fine.

While it may seem unfair that this person got such a 'severe' penalty, I do wish that all folks who did stuff like this received similar sentences.

There is a reason that crime rates are so low in countries where the populace KNOWS that the penalty will be severe if caught.

A couple years back, my new vehicle was keyed, tires were popped, just a mess. Do I think the person who did it should have gotten time in jail? Hell yes. Pity the police don't even come out for that sort of thing.

Come on! What's wrong this story? She should clean it up and maybe some other graffiti, but jail? This is crazy and people should stand up for her in that town, but I know they won't. She did something that was wrong yes, but It didn't hurt anyone but the wall. She doesn't have a criminal record or a gang member. " First Offense My A##", She was used as an example for all to see and the sad thing about it is they used the wrong person for it.

Yes, you do the crime you pay the time, but this should of been " you do the crime you pay the fine". But life is life and it's not fair. I hope she moves away from that place because I know I would.

I am not sure how the law works over there however here in the US when you turn 18 assuming it's minor offenses your record is cleared.

If that was the case maybe the judge had seen her several times before as a juvenile and he wanted to make a point with her saying, "Your an adult now and have severe consequences so get it straight before you really screw up your life." Teaching her a lesson about adult life.

The punishment should fit the crime. I fail to see how three months in prison will provide restitution to the victim, a lesson for the criminal, and balance the scales of justice in Australia.

Instead of costing the private citizen who committed these crimes $200 dollars, it will cost the taxpayers thousands of dollars to house a petty criminal for 3 months.

I don't see whats wrong with this. She committed a crime so she has to pay the price for it. The only murderers I have seen get off easy were all celebrities. I'm sure if she had bail then she would have gotten out the next day. I mean, She wrote on the wall of a PUBLIC cafe. Is she stupid or something? For all we know the reason for the harsh punishment was because they have had this happen repeated times before in the area and they are trying to crack down on these losers. Who gives punks like this a right to ruin other people's property?

Well if anyone is interested i have thrown up a crime and punishment thread up to discuss whats fair and whats not fair..... If your interested its here:

www.abovetopsecret.com...

And i have laid my crimes and punishments out for you all to see and judge if fair or not


Thread removed by mod because its not conspiracy worthy

[edit on 2-2-2009 by Master Shen long]

[edit on 2-2-2009 by Master Shen long]

hey guys, lets imprison people for speeding.

after all, they are breaking the law that endangering the welfare of the public by doing so.

its so careless.

as adults, everyone here should be grown up enough to obey the law.
i think if you are caught speeding, you should pay the fine and do 3 months in jail.

reply to post by Master Shen long


ok excuse me, Why would anyone want to write their name onto the side of the biulding? The only thing i can come up with is to get attention, she wanted it then she got it. Next she wants to write her name on something it will be a peice of paper

reply to post by tezzajw


All criminals should be treated equally, this law has been widely published and yet she chose to break it. Hope she likes her grey with a little blue. hehe

It's usually just a fine, not a jail sentence.

I feel so bad for her. I freaking hate when the "law" tries to make an impression by ruining someone's life.

Ok. Let's get off the two camp issue here and get back to basics.
Jail is not a proper punishment for this but this girl needs to understand that she is an adult now. The sentencing should have gone like this:

2 weeks jail
1 month community services
1000 bucks restitution to pay for damages both to the wall and punitive damages for wasting the courts' time with this crap in the first place.
And a 6 month informal probationary period, and then record is cleared.


All of this is REASONABLE and does not create a burden.

Today's Herald Sun newspaper, 3rd Feb, page 10 has a longer story about this injustice.

The magistrate is Ian McRae and he reckons that he's sending graffitti vandals a clear message. Well done, Mr McRae. You could have sent the same message without ruining the girl's life. You could have fined her, made her clean it up and apologise.

He said that unless the courts started treating it seriously, people would continue thinking it was a nothing offence. Ah-huh. Thanks for that pearl of wisdom, Mr McRae.

Cheyene stated in an interview that she will do anything to avoid jail and feels that her sentence is absolutely ridiculous. Agreed.

The cafe manager, who did not wish to be named, said that she deserved to be jailed. Obviously he's another pure human being who never made a mistake in his life when he was growing up. There's lots of people like that around, so it seems.

There's more in the paper, if you care to read it.

reply to post by RFBurns


I agree with your arguement she is an adult. But she is a first time offender, even an 30 year old doing this for their first crime would not usually get jail. And why send her to prison amoungst murderer's and drug dealers etc? those people she will see at some point on the outside - this will mess up her life.

Originally posted by ravenshadow13
It's usually just a fine, not a jail sentence.

I feel so bad for her. I freaking hate when the "law" tries to make an impression by ruining someone's life.

The law didn't ruin her life! She's an adult, she should know the difference between right and wrong. If there's anyone to blame for the position she's in, it's herself. Yeah, it sucks that she was made to be the example, but I bet she'll think twice before tagging up another building.

Can you honestly think that she or anyone else would learn a lesson if all they got was a slap on the wrist and a fine? I'm sure there are some people smart enough to learn from their mistakes, but more often then not, the offenders are right back doing the same things, if not worse.

Originally posted by tezzajw

Obviously he's another pure human being who never made a mistake in his life when he was growing up. There's lots of people like that around, so it seems.

I think that's a little ignorant. I'm not perfect, I don't claim to be, but come on! At eighteen, you're considered an adult. At that age, you should know the difference between right and wrong. Where did this girl get the idea that it was okay to disrespect other people and deface public property?

It says that she's a first time offender, but isn't your record cleared when you turn eighteen? She may or may not have done this before. If she didn't, I don't know why she would wait until she was considered an adult to tag something, if she always wanted to know the feeling of doing it.

[edit on 2-2-2009 by LysCat]

An 18-year-old woman with no criminal record has been jailed for three months for writing one word of graffiti on the wall of an inner-Sydney cafe.

Cheyene Back, from Daceyville, admitted using a black Texta marker to write "2shie", a word which was 30cm high and 60cm in length.

In the Downing Centre Local Court on Monday, Magistrate Ian McRae jailed her for three months, but another magistrate later granted her unconditional bail pending an appeal

news.ninemsn.com.au...

She is not in jail.
Very easy to see how people see the first thing in the media and run with it.
First day the headline on the front page and the out rage
second say second page with a little more detail
third day page 24 the truth is told but no one reads that far..

reply to post by RFBurns


Exactly what I was thinking (getting out early). The law is the law. Is she an example? Perhaps, but the judge is executing the sentence according to law.

The only thing I can say is that too bad she wasn't a year younger when she got caught. She could have done her sentence and then had her record expunged. Now, this will be on her record. I assume that Australia is similar with their laws regarding juveniles?

Just read the updated article. Seems a new anti-graffiti campaign commenced just two days earlier. Guess she just became the poster child for that campaign.


[edit on 2-2-2009 by Freenrgy2]

well I'm 17 and I personally never wrote on walls, this punishment seems a little extreme, I know some people that did a lot worse, they "tagged" an entire school. Their punishment was payment for the damages, cleaning the school up and several hours of community service. To me that was a fair punishment.