Rebecca Rubin has been sentenced to five years in jail for helping the Earth Liberation Front burn $40 million in property. And in an interesting twist, the judge has ordered her to read two books, one by famed social sciences author Malcolm Gladwell.
Journalist Will Potter reports Rubin, 40, was wanted for a decade in connection to crimes by the clandestine ELF, which destroyed property. Her co-defendants have been sentenced to prison as terrorists, and even housed in a secretive prison facility called a Communications Management Unit. Despite knowing that her sentence would likely be severe, Rubin turned herself in for punishment.
In addition to five years in jail, she has also been ordered to pay $13 million in restitution.
Rubin turned herself in in 2012 and pleaded guilt in October 2013.
This is said to be the minimum sentence available to Judge Ann Aiken who was said to have been impressed by Rubin’s written apology, in which she wrote that while “at the time I believed my only motivation was my deep love for the earth, I now understand that impatience, anger, egotism and self-righteousness were also involved.”
“I thoughtlessly disregarded the adverse emotional and psychological impact that would result from my actions,” she wrote.
The judge said the letter a “thoughtful, well-stated, honest, unvarnished apology/explanation,” adding: “I understand more than you know when you work in a democracy that all things look like they’re black and white when you’re young. And there are so many shades of gray.”
The judge ordered Rubin to read “David and Goliath,” the latest book by New Yorker staff writer Malcolm Gladwell, which traces how the little guy can beat the establishment by alternative means, clearly a hint that there are less-destructive ways to win people over.
Aiken also put “Nature’s Trust” by environmental law expert Mary Christina Wood, on Rubin’s reading list.
As journalist Potter points out, the message, of course, is that Rubin needs to learn the right way to social change. And Judge Aiken is the one to teach her.
Potter says these “eco-terrorism” sentences aren’t just about punishment, they are about sending a message to the broader environmental movement. The defendants have been expected to not only apologize for their crimes, but apologize for their entire belief system. Apparently, they need to replace it with the sanitized moralizing of pop best-sellers.
Potter’s posting on this case can be found at Green is the New Red.
