Thursday’s CDT offered a sad commentary on our so-called criminal justice system.

On page A5 was a report of a man “charged ... with felony counts of burglary and criminal trespass” for breaking into a State College church and stealing $1.50 in change.

Well hurrah, no crime is too tiny to escape punitive punishment.

But, hold on. On the same page, in big letters: “Ex-bank manager avoids jail sentence. ... Milesburg woman stole $79,954.”

She gets “three years probation, the first six months of which she will be confined to her home.” And she must make full restitution, which the sentencing judge admitted be difficult because, as a convicted felon, she is unlikely “to get a good paying job.”

This means — maybe, and certainly unfairly — that if you want to steal, make sure you steal much, not little. This is a sad, sad commentary on so-called justice

Bob Bealer

State College