Bus Driver Kristi Bennett sentenced for sexual contact with student
Kristi Bennett, a 30 year old former school bus driver in the Huntington County School Corporation in Huntington, Indiana has been sentenced to 1 and a half years of jail for having sexual contact with a male student. Of course, of that 18 months, 6 were suspended due to mitigating circumstances, another 10 suspended just for the hell of it, 30 days of which will be spent on tether. So all in all, 1 and a half years in prison turned into 2 months in county jail. Nice.
Bennett Admitted that between January and May of 2008, she and a juvenile male attended a movie at a movie theater, and during that meeting Bennett kissed the boy, and allowed him to rub her breasts.
Bennett will be required to register as a sex offender, and must not come in contact with any children under 17, and must perform 60 grueling hours of community service. Rough sentence. She also gets to show up at the jail on January 3rd, 2008.
December 18th, 2008 at 12:56 pm
This post is just oozing with sarcasm and an obvious bias so let’s visit the opposite viewpoint just for fun. It seems so funny to me that in a culture where 17 yr olds are allowed to be tried as adults, go through boot camp, and make many other decisions as adults that people are so quick to burn people at the stakes for this type of crime. Young adults (as they are sometimes referred to) can in many cases be far from innocent and victims in these situations and often initiate and welcome these situations. That alone is often ignored. In this particular state, 16 and 17 yr olds can make their own decisions on relationships with adults and for 99% of the population there would have been no crime committed. Because this person is a bus driver I guess she should spend 1 ½ years in prison? Give me a break!
Families of those convicted suffer dramatically from this type of thing. A person who has never been through this type of thing would never be able to appreciate that. The fallout from being a registered offender is a 10 yr sentence in itself and a felony conviction is a life changing ordeal. Those things alone are not exactly a slap on the wrist. Any jail time or community service is a punishment and any offender should get a chance to make up for their mistakes. Rarely ever should someone be punished to the fullest extent of the law for a first offense with a clean record. Nothing in any of these articles will ever tell what type of person the convicted person really may be or even consider that good people make mistakes.
I’ll also add that these types of offenses are often emotional and not always to fulfill a sexual desire. There was probably a reason why the judge showed leniency here. I’ll leave with this though. Mathew 6:14-15 NIV
January 3rd, 2009 at 11:23 pm
Yes, indeed 17 year olds are able to make their own decisions about some things, and nobody said he was innocent! The fact is we have a 30 year old woman who made a very poor decision. Yes her offense may have been “emotional” but still would you have the same opinion if it were the exact same situation except with a 16 year old girl and a 30 year old male? I’m guessing not! But it’s the same thing! If she were not a bus driver the situation probably would not have ever happened…and she wasn’t punished to the fullest extent of the law..30 days in jail?
January 27th, 2009 at 12:47 pm
I would ABSOLUTELY feel the same way if it were a 16 yr old girl and a 30 yr old male as long as it was consentual. Sex doesn’t make a difference. I just have a problem with holding school corporation employees to a higher standard than the rest of the population. If it is not illegal for everyone then it shouldn’t be illegal for school corporation employees. I’m not saying I agree with the actions but a portion of the population shouldn’t be held to a higher account legally just because of where they are employed. If the schools want to have their own policy then thats fine. I’m assuming this person lost their job and therfore would no longer be able to commit the crime since they would no longer be a school corporation employee.
Personally I don’t think school employees should be allowed to have relationships with students under 18. I also believe it should be the school corporations policy to dictate that – not the law.
I never said that she was punished to the fullest extent of the law. Apparently from the sarcasm in the original post, the 30 days wasn’t enough in that person’s opinion and county jail was a joke. I was merely offering a different perspective. For this crime committed I felt it was a more than fair punishment.
Do you really believe a person should go to prison for 1 and 1 half years because someone rubbed her breast? Especially since it would be perfectly legal for millions of other people (as long as they didn’t work for a school)? I’ve just heard too many of these cases where the victims actively pursued the relationship and I don’t think it’s right. When 16 and 17 yr old commit an offense then they can be tried as adults. The law should be consistent in how it treats minors. If it is black and white sometimes and grey other times then that is a problem. The offenders should lose their job but not held more accountable than the rest of the population!