Editorial
A Moment of Grace <http://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/17/opinion/17wed4.html>
<http://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/17/opinion/17wed4.html>
Given the opportunity for retribution, a Long Island woman who was severely
injured by a teenager gave and got something better.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/17/opinion/17wed4.html
August 17, 2005
A Moment of Grace
In an age whose crabbed sense of justice finds _expression in dismal phrases
like "zero tolerance" and "three strikes and you're out," the events in a
Long Island courtroom on Monday came as an undeserved gift, something
startling and luminous.
It happened when Ryan Cushing, a 19-year-old charged with assault for
tossing a turkey through a car windshield last fall, approached the driver
he nearly killed, Victoria Ruvolo. Ms. Ruvolo, 44, suffered severe injuries
and needed many hours of surgery to rebuild her shattered facial bones.
When Mr. Cushing left the courtroom after pleading guilty, he came face to
face with his victim for the first time. He said he was sorry and begged her
to forgive him.
She did. She cradled his head as he sobbed. She stroked his face and patted
his back. "It's O.K.; it's O.K.," she said. "I just want you to make your
life the best it can be."
Mr. Cushing was one of six teenagers out for a night of joy riding and
crime, which often happens when childish aggression and stupidity merge with
the ability to drive and steal credit cards. The five others have pleaded
guilty to various acts like forgery and larceny, but Mr. Cushing, who threw
the turkey, could have faced 25 years in prison. At Ms. Ruvolo's insistence,
prosecutors granted him a plea bargain instead: six months in jail and five
years' probation.
The prosecutor, Thomas Spota, had been ready to seek harsh punishment for a
crime he rightly denounced as heedless and brutal. "This is not an act of
mere stupidity," Mr. Spota said. "They're not 9- or 7-year-old children."
That is true. But Ms. Ruvolo's resolute compassion, coming seemingly out of
nowhere, disarmed Mr. Spota and led to a far more satisfying result.
Many have assumed that Ms. Ruvolo's motivation is religious. But while we
can estimate the size of her heart, we can't peer into it. Her impulse may
have been entirely secular.
Court testimony by crime victims is often pitched as a sort of retributive
therapy, a way for angry, injured people to force criminals to confront
their shame. But while some convicts grovel, others smirk. Many are
impassive. It's hard to imagine that those hurt by crime reliably find
healing in the courtroom. Given the opportunity for retribution, Ms. Ruvolo
gave and got something better: the dissipation of anger and the restoration
of hope, in a gesture as cleansing as the tears washing down her damaged
face, and the face of the foolish, miserable boy whose life she
single-handedly restored.
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