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Mom ordered to cut off daughter’s ponytail

Image: via Shutterstock

When sentencing a 13-year-old girl in Utah, US, a judge suggested that he would reduce the girls community service by 150 hours immediately, provided that the mother of the teen cut off the girl’s ponytail in front of a packed courtroom, according to Jezebel.com.

An eye for an eye?

13-year-old Kaytlen Lopan was facing two separate charges: She had been accused of making threatening phone calls to another teen over a period of eight months- to this she acknowledged her guilt- and the teen was also accused of cutting off a 3-year-old’s hair in a McDonalds restaurant.

Lopan and another girl had allegedly befriended the tot before hacking off her hair, and it was for this reason that the judge offered “an eye for an eye” justice.

The judge can be heard on transcripts making the suggestion to Lopan’s mom, saying that he’ll “get the scissors right now”. When Lopan’s mom accepts the offer of a reduced sentence, and cuts Lopan’s hair, the judge asks the mother of the 3-year-old victim if enough has been cut off. The mom says no, so the judge insists that Lopan’s hair is cut “right up to the rubber band”.

Following the impromptu haircut, Lopan served 30 days at a juvenile facility as the remainder of her sentence.

Fair or old-fashioned?

The unusual ruling has stirred up accusations that the judge’s actions were cruel, bizarre and old-fashioned- even “biblical”. Lopan’s mom has since filed a formal complaint.

While the original haircutting incident may have been a simple prank, Lopan’s threatening phone calls included the threats of “mutilation and rape”, so the troubled teen could not escape punishment completely.

Do you think the judge’s “haircut ruling” was fair?


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