Vermont judge increase notorious sex offender sentence

As detailed in news reports here and here and here, a "Vermont judge facing intense criticism for the 60-day jail sentenced he gave an admitted child molester changed his mind Thursday and increased the sentence to a minimum of three years." According to the AP account, "Judge Edward Cashman said he would have given the 3-year to 10-year sentence to Mark Hulett at the original sentencing, but at that point Hulett was not eligible for in-prison sex offender treatment.  He now is."

Over at TalkLeft, T Chris laments here that "Judge Edward Cashman caved to public pressure," although I am inclined to accept the Judge's new statements at face value.  Moreover, as I highlighted in prior posts about this case (linked below), what concerns me more is the broader political dynamics in which just one single seemingly too lenient sentence prompts an immediate political firestorm, but decades of seemingly too harsh sentences (e.g., long crack sentences for mules in the federal system) barely create a political ripple.

Related posts:

• The kind of case that can prompt needed reforms
• The one-way ratchet of sentencing reform
• Continued controversy over Vermont sentencing