Weekly Article Response: Haiti 'kidnappers'

The Americans in Haiti charged with conspiracy and child abduction should be convicted with little punishment.
Almost two weeks ago ten Americans were taking thirty-three Haitian children to the Dominican Republic without the proper paperwork and they forgot the fact many of the children have at least one living parent. Now they are charged with conspiracy and child abduction and I think they should be charged with a small punishment. Part of this is because these Idaho natives were ignorant about the paperwork doesn’t mean they should be charged with up to fifteen years in jail. Laura Silsby, a businesswoman in the group put it plainly in the New York Times article,“We simply wanted to help the children.” I feel she is telling the truth and these helpers came to Haiti really to help.
It’s been a month after the Haiti tragedy and everything is not all better. Port-au-Prince is still a complete mess, with half the city still in rubble, and the judiciary system has been completely down before this. I think in the chaos the Baptist church group might not have been able to find the children’s parents in the mess, and not known what to do with the maybe orphans while they figure it out. Imagine you’re a volunteer substitute teacher during a fire. You take the kids away from the disaster but you don’t fill out the attendance sheet. Yes, you made a stupid mistake but no one was hurt and that’s all it was, a mistake. In the urgency of the situation common sense could have lost you but should fifteen years of your life be given up for that? I don’t think so. Although it was stupid so they shouldn’t be let go.