Shoplifter Ordered To Sing For Judge
Ana Cristina Leandro dos Santos is no stool pigeon. But she must sing for a judge for the next year.
The 22-year-old woman was caught stealing shampoo, talcum powder and perfume from a shop in Recife in northeastern Brazil and could have been sentenced to four years in prison for the crime.
But Judge Jose Caubi Arraes decided to take a novel approach in Thursday’s sentencing: The highschool dropout must sing the national anthem for him for a year, write down the song’s words once a week and complete high school.
“Sending her to jail would have not done her or society any good, so instead I opted for an alternative sentence,” Arraes said Friday.
Arraes said he also has ordered petty thieves to clean cemeteries, wash bodies in a city morgue and pray while washing church floors.