A climate activist in New Zealand faces 10 years in jail after a court found her guilty of forgery for sending a fake letter to the speakers at an oil industry conference, telling them it had been postponed due to the climate crisis.
Rosemary Penwarden, [a 64 year old] climate activist in New Zealand, faces more than 10 years in jall for a fake letter canceling an oil conference.
Three years later, after a trial in the Dunedin District Court, Penwarden was found guilty on Wednesday of two charges of creating and using a forged document.
“It was a surprise,” she said. “I’m reminded of the topsy-turvy world we’re in. It should not be the grandmothers on trial, it should be the oil industry, it should be those people who are making massive profits off the destruction of all of our futures.”
Better for her if what her lawyers are seeking comes to pass.
Sentencing is scheduled for September 8, according to Dunedin District Court. While the maximum jail sentence is 10 years, Penwarden said her lawyers are asking for “discharge without conviction.”
I’m so frustrated by the powers who put persons like her in prison while genuine and true corruption is permitted to continue unabated.
Seriously. Why the fuck is it even a possibility for ten years of prison over something like this? It’s crazy to me that a nonviolent crime could be punished so severely. I mean, why do we have prison? Is it to remove dangerous people from society? That’s certainly how I think it should be, but these sorts of punishments really show that it’s all about sating the bloodlust of victims.
If you are a powerful person than an activist is the most dangerous person to you and your position. So in a fucked up way the sentencing disparity makes perfect sense.
Look, forgery can be a serious crime and having a max penalty of 10 years seems okay to me.
In this instance though, max sentence definitely isnt deserved! From what I know of our justice system, I think discharge without conviction is a real possibility and seems the best possible outcome.
What purpose does throwing someone in prison for ten years do though for something like forgery? Would it not be better if they were forced to do community service and lost access to the tools that led to them committing forgery? Why pay money to remove someone from society for a decade? Is it to teach any other potential forgerers a lesson? Is it to teach the forgerer themself a lesson? Is that really a lesson that needs to be worth a decade in a cell to learn? The world’s justice systems have generally erred too much on the side of retribution instead of rehabilitation. It’s especially sinister when you consider how much our capitalist system places more value on things like capital over people’s lives and wellbeings. To be clear, I consider myself to be a capitalist, but a social democrat that believes in heavy regulations on our capitalist systems. I think our retributive, excessively pro-business justice system is a clear example of what happens when you let capitalism go unfettered and bleed into every aspect of our lives. Forgery is not violent. Most of the time it is not actively dangerous. Why don’t we come up with more creative and proactive ways of punishing people that would benefit people at large rather than ruin the criminal’s entire life? Even in a case where I am not on the criminal’s side I find myself pretty appalled that ten years could even possibly be on the table in a forgery case.
If she actually gets convicted of that, it might be another one of these events that seems insignificant on it‘s own, but could have repercussions in hindsight.
Similar to those two self-immolations in the US due to climate change, the loss of these people stuck with me and we‘re not even in the same continent. I can‘t imagine how the relatives and friends feel.
There is a lot of climate anxiety and fear around, and these sorts of repressive actions, or even the inactions following desperate moves, serve to strengthen these feelings.
Wish the best for this woman, some people say or think things like “old people (boomers) don’t care” etc. and I admit I did too, but she proved it wrong, the climate concerns everyone.
Well, we know that the Jan 6th “protesters” are getting 6 months, or maybe a year. The longest I’ve seen was 18 years to stupid ass Stuart Rhodes. How is what this woman did 9 years worth of time worse?
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I love me some good satire. Good for her.
Better for her if what her lawyers are seeking comes to pass.
I’m so frustrated by the powers who put persons like her in prison while genuine and true corruption is permitted to continue unabated.
I hope she doesn’t actually get anything close to ten years. That’s something you’d expect from a corrupt third world dictatorship, not New Zealand.
Seriously. Why the fuck is it even a possibility for ten years of prison over something like this? It’s crazy to me that a nonviolent crime could be punished so severely. I mean, why do we have prison? Is it to remove dangerous people from society? That’s certainly how I think it should be, but these sorts of punishments really show that it’s all about sating the bloodlust of victims.
If you are a powerful person than an activist is the most dangerous person to you and your position. So in a fucked up way the sentencing disparity makes perfect sense.
Look, forgery can be a serious crime and having a max penalty of 10 years seems okay to me.
In this instance though, max sentence definitely isnt deserved! From what I know of our justice system, I think discharge without conviction is a real possibility and seems the best possible outcome.
But yeah fuck pepanz.
What purpose does throwing someone in prison for ten years do though for something like forgery? Would it not be better if they were forced to do community service and lost access to the tools that led to them committing forgery? Why pay money to remove someone from society for a decade? Is it to teach any other potential forgerers a lesson? Is it to teach the forgerer themself a lesson? Is that really a lesson that needs to be worth a decade in a cell to learn? The world’s justice systems have generally erred too much on the side of retribution instead of rehabilitation. It’s especially sinister when you consider how much our capitalist system places more value on things like capital over people’s lives and wellbeings. To be clear, I consider myself to be a capitalist, but a social democrat that believes in heavy regulations on our capitalist systems. I think our retributive, excessively pro-business justice system is a clear example of what happens when you let capitalism go unfettered and bleed into every aspect of our lives. Forgery is not violent. Most of the time it is not actively dangerous. Why don’t we come up with more creative and proactive ways of punishing people that would benefit people at large rather than ruin the criminal’s entire life? Even in a case where I am not on the criminal’s side I find myself pretty appalled that ten years could even possibly be on the table in a forgery case.
If she actually gets convicted of that, it might be another one of these events that seems insignificant on it‘s own, but could have repercussions in hindsight.
Similar to those two self-immolations in the US due to climate change, the loss of these people stuck with me and we‘re not even in the same continent. I can‘t imagine how the relatives and friends feel.
There is a lot of climate anxiety and fear around, and these sorts of repressive actions, or even the inactions following desperate moves, serve to strengthen these feelings.
Wish the best for this woman, some people say or think things like “old people (boomers) don’t care” etc. and I admit I did too, but she proved it wrong, the climate concerns everyone.
Wow, what will the people that did the fake electors plot, get? Rocket to the sun??
Well, we know that the Jan 6th “protesters” are getting 6 months, or maybe a year. The longest I’ve seen was 18 years to stupid ass Stuart Rhodes. How is what this woman did 9 years worth of time worse?
It affects the bottom line of major industries, in theory, rather than the safety and stability of a country.
Clearly a dangerous and deranged individual. She’ll probably offer some of those werthers candies next. The pure audacity of it.
When will we put the oil industry executives in prison for genocide? (The genocide of the human race.)