(01-06-2020, 07:58 AM)pj57 Wrote:(01-06-2020, 06:43 AM)Dilz Wrote: heard that some ppl are delibaretly lighting fires
It's nothing new, there are mad buggers who do this every summer. Already 24 people have been arrested for deliberately lighting fires and many more have been arrested for throwing cigarette buts and lighting fires on total fire ban days.
I think the government should hand out severe punishments to these mad buggers. I think 25 year jail sentence is in force if found guilty of deliberately lighting fires but how successful it is remains a question.
What's the punishment actually given?
In my state a couple of years ago a dumb teenager started a fire by lighting fireworks which spread across the entire Columbia river gorge and cause damage in millions, plus closed trails, lost vegetation and animals etc.
So the police caught the kid, who's about 16, and actually gave him a sensible punishment. Total debt he owes to the state is $37 million, and he needs to pay it off in installments. If he did timely payments for 10 years, and kept a clean record, the rest of the debt would go away. Also, he needs to do community service every year for that 10 year period. And to top it off, if he ever won the lottery, the state would take his winnings up to 37 million straightaway.
I think it's a sensible punishment for a kid, since teenagers are dumb anyway, and we all did stupid shit, but he should have known better. This way you can actually enact sensible punishment without ruining his life.
Obviously punishment needs to be harsher for adults who intentionally light fires.