This is a system?

The criminal justice system is very good at producing criminals and not always so good at producing justice.
But rarely are you given such an obvious juxtaposition of bungled jurisprudence as was depicted in two facing-page articles in the 2006.1.21 issue of the Philadelphia Daily News.
Since one of the cases was heard in federal and the other in city court, it's hardly just a Philadelphia phenomenon, but it's certainly got that big-city smell to it.
In the more outrageous of the two cases, a local professor and anesthesiologist was convicted (after pleading no contest, which is pretty much the same as pleading guilty without actually having to admit your obvious guilt) in March of 2005 for sexual assault and possession of a controlled substance (the sodium pentobarbital he allegedly used on his female victim, the niece of the doctor's best friend since college). The judge ignored the prosecutor's suggested sentence of 5.5 to 11 years (about right, in my book, if not a touch low), and sentenced the good doctor to a year of house arrest and subsequent probation. Why? Because of his "important work" with victims of stroke and brain injury. Compounding that disaster (and slap in the face to the victim), the judge has now allowed the doctor to work in Italy (in a hospital in Milan; I wonder if they'll allow him access to controlled substances, or young women?) for six months during his probation. The doctor also has yet to pay his victim (who'd planned to go to veterinary school) her court-ordered restitution (amount unspecified).
The flip side of 'justice' in Philadelphia is represented by the case of a local restauranteur (famous for reviving the Philly restaurant scene, including opening the nationally known Striped Bass) who, because of his drug and alcohol addiction, filed false income tax returns for several years, stiffing the IRS the taxes owed on some $500,000. He pled guilty, dried out, and went back to running his remaining restaurant and helping the homeless (of which there are many) in Philadelphia. In his case, the local probation department recommended a sentence of five years' probation (with the first six months served as house arrest), while the prosecutors asked for eighteen months to two years. The judge in this case, in his infinite wisdom, gave this dangerous felon a year and a day in federal custody and another year of supervised release after that. The restaurant maven also still owes the Feds nearly $400,000 and Pennsylvania almost $300,000. (Those 'penalties and interest' sure mount up on back taxes...)
So, let's see. Give yourself drugs and fuck the IRS out of some money, get a year in the slammer. Give an unsuspecting twenty-something woman some drugs and fuck her without her consent, get a year of house arrest and a job in Italy.
Now that is a System.