Praxius. I have a friend who's been put away for the rest of his life for grabbing a boob on the bus. No word of a lie. Sometimes the charge may seem out of proportion, but the behavior that prompted it, and the history behind the individual, is why the judges throw everything they've got at it.
Was his grabbing of the boob a repeated offence? How about the above situation? Was this the first time the alleged offender smacked an infant with a rubber nipple
or has he a history of drunken rubber nipple whacking on minors?
Secondly, was your friend put away for actual life (The entire extent of his life until his death) or for criminal life (25 years without parole?) based on that one case of grabbing a boob?
If it was for life for that one occasion that he grabbed a tit on the bus, and if you are hinting that this guy should also get something along those lines for tapping a baby on the nose with a rubber nipple..... then I would have to say the bigger problem is the justice system and over-authoritive judges overstepping their reasoning of the cases.
Not to mention that one case would have obvious perverted/sexual reasoning behind it, this case I could sum up simply as some drunk guy playing with a kid.... but certainly not intending to do any harm, be that mentally or physically...... and certainly nowhere near sexually.
I mean, heck if you're not able to play around with some kid, or tap them on the nose, or hell, "Cross Paths" with the mother and child in todays world..... and we all could face some heafty charges like assault with weapons or just plain assault for simple social interactions that pose no risk or harm to another human being..... then you all don't come crying to me when our societies finally stop helping one another, socializing with one another, or actually caring about one another.
This is one extreme case of over reaction by some hysterical mother, and perhaps we don't have all the information available in this case, but based on what I have read, this was an over reaction.... and when our society has to start tip toeing on egg shells when interacting with other human beings at the risk of being charged for some criminal activity for something trivial such as the above, then we're begining the distancing of our society where nobody will bother to step in and help or try and be nice without the risk of going to jail.
Before you know it, so many people will be charged for stupid petty things, that nobody will want to do anything to anybody.... and when a real and serious crime does occur to you or your child, chances are nobody's going to come to your aid because they'll worry they might be charged for something too and would just rather play it safe for themselves.
Then we're right back to Survival of the Fittest.... and although I wouldn't mind that to a degree, I imagine many others here wouldn't.
Granted, I don't think this guy should have been let off the hook for his actions, and I agree that some warning or fine of some kind to let him know it's not accepted would have worked, but charging him the way they have was over kill and they will lose their case.
Added:
Read you above explination.
