Rape Victim Gets Rehab Instead of Jail on Burglary Charges

A Los Angeles woman convicted of burglary was given a sentence of rehab instead of jail time because of the lifetime of sexual abuse she suffered at the hands of her father — abuse that left her pregnant with three of his children.

According to LAist, the 33-year-old woman was initially facing up to 12 years in prison for helping gang members break into houses, but the judge took her horrific childhood into consideration and sent her to rehab instead.

[The woman] told investigators that her father had sexually abused her since she was six, rigging the family’s West Adams home with cameras to track her every move, the L.A. Times reports. She gave birth to his first child when she was 17, and had two more of his children by the time she was 24. Her father, Lindolfo Thibes, was sentenced to 109 year to life in prison on multiple convictions of sexual crimes against her.

“Because of her background, I believe it’s time to see if she can rehabilitate herself,” prosecutor Richard Gallegly told the LA Times. “If anyone deserves it, it’s her.”

It’s wonderful that a person so in need of help is actually getting it. Shouldn’t this be the norm? This is clearly what we should be doing with so many other people who are processed through our criminal justice system daily. Punishment fails, rehabilitation works. It’s cheaper, too. It both curbs violence and builds communities. If the program is well run and effective, it’s an infinitely better solution than incarcareation.