St, Francis, WISCONSIN

Her parents must be soooooo proud.

March 21, 2008 - Kelly Sweet, 26, an 8th grade teacher at Deer Creek Intermediate School, was charged with one count of second-degree sexual assault of a child for allegedly sexually assaulting a 14-year-old boy.

Sweet taught at Deer Creek for the last four years. The 14-year-old student told Milwaukee police that he and Sweet had sexual contact earlier this month in her downtown Milwaukee apartment while watching movies on her couch. Sweet is due back in Milwaukee County Circuit Court April 3rd.
Full Name: Kelly Marie Sweet
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WE FOUND: Criminal complaint PDF
Smoking Gun entry for Sweet. (with criminal complaint) and huge picture of her.

Milwaukee County Case Number 2008CF001367 Search here
Status conference scheduled for June 2nd 8:30 am Milwaukee County Courthouse
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SENTENCED (sorta) August 26 - Sweet pleaded guilty today to fourth-degree sexual assault, (a misdemeanor) for having sexual contact with a 14-year-old student. She was sentenced to serve 25 days in jail - not prison - and placed on two years of probation. She also permanently relinquished her Wisconsin teaching license. She was ordered to register as a sex offender for the duration of her probation.

Although the victim’s family members did not want to talk on camera, they were not happy with the lack of jail time in this case.

Sweet now lives in Jefferson County and works as a paralegal in her father's law firm.
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WE FOUND: The Journal Sentinel blog, Proof and Hearsay, (August 27) responded in "Teacher makes out with student." to comments about the sentencing with their own question: "Honestly, would you expect the same legal outcome? " Which, it might be said, is a lot easier than actually researching to see if sentencing results for males and females convicted of the same crimes is unfair and unequal and is an injustice to the victim. The newspaper certainly has the resources to conduct such an investigation by examining sentencing data.

SENTENCING GUIDELINES Wisconsin has sentencing guidelines online from the Wisconsin Sentencing Commission for the top 11 crimes committed in the state. There are penalty enhancers for hate crimes and crimes committed in a school zone, but look at the list of Risk Factors in this Guideline for 2nd Degree Assault of a Child. (A Class "C" felony. Wisconsin Statute 948.02(2) (PDF) See page 2. (Or see NXT Infobase.)

Risk Factors (See their Guideline Notes. pg 5.) are defined as concerns for future risk and the need to incapacitate the defendant to safeguard public safety. Sex of the defendant is not a listed factor. Employment and education are, as is alcohol abuse by the defendant and claims of sexual abuse by the defendant.

Some 60% of those sentenced for 2nd Degree Assault of a Child receive probation. (From the Guideline for 2nd Degree Assault of a Child linked to above.)

If a preponderance of concern in sentencing as seen in the worksheet is for the risk of reoffending, no doubt, women are not considered as high a risk as men. The sex of the defendant may not be in the guidelines, but in the courtroom, it is visually obvious and cannot help to be a factor. Women are simply not viewed as predators to the degree men are. And judging by the comments at the story, some juvenile males are fully convinced this is rightly so. Certainly the newspaper makes no judgement, which is seriously worrying.

Isn't it the duty and obligation of a newspaper to inform and educate their readers?

Sweet pleaded to 4th Degree Sexual Assault can be found here (PDF) (on pg 9.) 940.22.3m