Utah Teacher's Aide Gets 60 Days for Sex Crime

(Utah County, Utah) In January 2008, a teacher's aide at Oak Canyon Jr. High School, Mallory Shaw, was arrested for alleged sexual abuse of a boy and furnishing tobacco to minors.

On May 20, Shaw was found guilty of felony aggravated assault and misdemeanor selling tobacco to a minor.

Yesterday, 20-year-old Shaw was sentenced by Judge Lynn Davis to 60 days in the Utah County Jail and 36 months of probation plus fines totaling approximately $1,000. Shaw will not be required to register as a sex offender.

Despite the widely-held belief that America represents equality under the law, Judge Davis indicated that Shaw was treated leniently because she's a girl. Judge Davis remarked that "a man guilty of similar crimes would have been given time in prison."

Interestingly, Judge Davis isn't the only Utah judge who practices unequal application of the law and is bold enough to admit it. District Judge Mark Kouris has also confessed to treating female convicts leniently in comparison to male convicts.

One might contend that the state of Utah has a problem in this regard and there likely are a number of male inmates in Utah prisons with cause for individual or class action against the state.