Judge: Learn English or go to jail

[Alonzo]

WILKES-BARRE, Pennsylvania (AP) -- A judge known for creative sentencing has ordered three Spanish-speaking men to learn English or go to jail.

The men, who faced prison for criminal conspiracy to commit robbery, can remain on parole if they learn to read and write English, earn their GEDs and get full-time jobs, Luzerne County Judge Peter Paul Olszewski Jr. said.

The men, Luis Reyes, Ricardo Dominguez and Rafael Guzman-Mateo, plus a fourth defendant, Kelvin Reyes-Rosario, all needed translators when they pleaded guilty Tuesday.

"Do you think we are going to supply you with a translator all of your life?" the judge asked them.

The four, ranging in age from 17 to 22, were in a group that police said accosted two men on a street in May. The two said they were asked if they had marijuana, told to empty their pockets, struck on the head, threatened with a gun and told to stay off the block.

Attorneys for the men said they were studying the legality of the ruling and had not decided whether to appeal. One of the attorneys, Ferris Webby, suggested that the ruling was good for his client, Guzman-Mateo.

"My client is happy," Webby said. "I think it's going to help him."

The judge sentenced the four men to jail terms of four to 24 months. But he gave the three men, who already had served at least four months, immediate parole. Reyes-Rosario remains imprisoned on an unrelated drug charge.

Olszewski ordered the three to return with their parole officers in a year and take an English test. "If they don't pass, they're going in for the 24 [months]," he said.

Olszewski is known for outside-the-box sentencing.

He has ordered young defendants who are school dropouts to finish school. He often orders defendants to get full-time employment. But he also has his staff coordinate with an employment agency to help them find the jobs.

http://www.cnn.com/2008/CRIME/03/27/judge.sentence.ap/index.html

I guess it's not bad, it may be a good thing for them given the other things added. But I don't see how they're going to pass a test on it within a year, unless it's a basic test. That's too quick to expect adults to become fluent.

[4Reaganomics]

I don't think the will expect complete fluency. They are probably going to have to equivalent to a 2nd year college english as a second language student.

Overall, this is a good thing. It keeps them out of prison and gives them a chance to do something successful with their lives.

[Mia]

It doesn't say fluent. That judge rocks. He gave them an OPPORTUNITY to make it here, legitimately. He could have just sent them to prison and let them continue on as they were, surely for a return visit if they don't learn the language and get educated.

[Alonzo]

I don't think the will expect complete fluency. They are probably going to have to equivalent to a 2nd year college english as a second language student.

I took 3 years of french and I wouldn't have passed anything, and I really did try to learn it. Adults learn language at much slower rates, some better/worse than others.

It's possible, I just think the one year thing is unrealistic and, unintentionally, setting them up to fail. Unless it's a very basic test.

[4Reaganomics]

After 2 years of Spanish I could speak somewhat basically, and hold a very elementary conversation with a lot of "No se" lol. But these kids have something we didn't have Zo, they have the advantage of interaction who speak english everywhere that they go on everyday.

It is much harder to learn a language after puberty due to neurological reasons, but it is an advantage to be surrounded by people speaking the language you are trying to learn.

Either way, we are sending these kids in the right direction

[Mia]

Gawd - ever look for the positive in anything? Dang, he gave them a hell of a deal! If he wanted them to fail he wouldn't even waste his time. Off to prison is a lot easier on him than making this deal and keeping up with the adjudication of it.

[Alonzo]

After 2 years of Spanish I could speak somewhat basically, and hold a very elementary conversation with a lot of "No se" lol. But these kids have something we didn't have Zo, they have the advantage of interaction who speak english everywhere that they go on everyday.

It is much harder to learn a language after puberty due to neurological reasons, but it is an advantage to be surrounded by people speaking the language you are trying to learn.

If you want to say 2 or 3 years ok, but not one year.

Gawd - ever look for the positive in anything? Dang, he gave them a hell of a deal! If he wanted them to fail he wouldn't even waste his time. Off to prison is a lot easier on him than making this deal and keeping up with the adjudication of it.

I didn't say he wanted them to fail, I said it's unintentional. A lot of people, if not most, think learning a language is much easier than it is.

[Mia]

You're not giving enough credit to 'immersion', imo. My four years of Spanish would be equivalent to 6 months in Mexico.

You're basing your opinion on trying to learn from a text book not surrounded by native speakers - not the same at all.

[Alonzo]

Mia, he's in pennsylvania, he's likely already surrounded by them. And, if he isn't, he wasn't ordered to move so it's unlikely to change.

[Mia]

Well, before he wasn't motivated. Now he is. Still a hell of a deal!

[Mia]

By the way your thread title is misleading. It leads one to believe someone is being sent to jail for not knowing English, which is not the case at all.

[Alonzo]

Mia, click the link. It's not my title.

[AlanC]

Zo, there is a huge difference too in trying to learn a language in a formal setting that begins with grammer rules and memorization instead learning a language convesationally, in order to speak and converse instead of reading and writing.

I think this is an extremely creative sentence that will actually go a long way towards helping these men instead of marginalizing them.

If the year is a challenge, 24 months in jail should be a great motivator. But I acknolwedge your point that it will depend on what standard they will be held when the year is up. Seems like that was left out of the story.

[Alonzo]

Alan, I don't really disagree I just think that, with only a year as a deadline, the chance of failure is too high. Why not give them the full 24 months to accomplish the language part and if they fail to be even remotely competent then enact the sentence?

[AlanC]

I can't really answer that Zo unless I know what standard he put in place. I'm language challenged. I have never shown any ability or aptitude or patience to learn another language.

But that aside, when I was in Germany and motivated, it took less than a month to learn enough to get by. I mean enough to ask directions, use the transportation systems, order meals and drinks, exchange greetings and read signs and instructions.

The level of english spoken there meant that was enough and I never got much past that. But I could have if it was necessary. I think a year is enough for someone motivated to become conversant in a language, but not fluent.

[NDNdancer]

I think if faced with 2 years in prison, I'd be pretty motivated. Kudos to the judge for his creative sentence. It's not often that you see something like this that actually gives people a chance to rehabilitate and make a change in their lives.

Learning a new language, earning their GED's and finding full time jobs should keep them busy and out of trouble. I hope they take this opportunity and make the most of it.

[Washington]

They'd just become English speaking criminals.

[Moorington]

After a year of German I could speak some fairly basic phrases, and that was not even an hour a day, 5 days (optimally) a week. Now lets say I had to learn German, or literally, get hauled off to jail while in that class... Inside Germany. To think how much more I could've learned- I likely would've passed myself off as a rather quiet, but still able, German.