Focus on why men behaved violently, not punishment

Two young Hawaii men, two reprehensible attacks on animals, two prison sentences handed down just 20 days apart.

What connects Christian Gutierrez and Shylo Akuna are their crimes. For reasons that are nearly impossible to comprehend, both young men went wild and savagely attacked federally protected indigenous animals.

What separates them is most obvious by their sentences. Gutierrez, who was accused of killing and mutilating more than a dozen defenseless Laysan albatrosses and then smashing the eggs in their nests, pleaded no contest to greatly reduced charges and was sentenced to 45 days in prison. Akuna, who harassed but did not injure a pregnant monk seal, pleaded no contest and was sentenced to four years.

Forty-five days for killing birds, chopping off their feet and smashing their eggs.

Four years for throwing sand, yelling, splashing water, chasing and generally acting stupid around a monk seal that probably outweighed him by several hundred pounds.

What are we to make of this?

Of course, there are many other factors that differentiate these two cases.

Akuna has a criminal record. He was recently sentenced to a year in prison for stealing and slaughtering someone’s pet goat. He has been in custody since March on charges of burglarizing a hotel room at the Grand Hyatt in Poipu.

Gutierrez, as everyone well knows by now, is a graduate of elite Punahou School and is a student of elite New York University. With such a pedigree, some may argue, more would be expected of him.

Also, the judges were different, the attorneys different, the cases were brought to different courts — Akuna’s on Kauai, where his crime occurred, and Gutierrez’s on Oahu.

In Akuna’s case, there was one of the most damaging elements in a modern-day criminal case: a viral video that incited public outrage. Akuna looks crazy in the video. He’s yelling, splashing water, trying to land punches. If video of Gutierrez and his Punahou friends smashing eggs and chopping the legs off defenseless birds was circulated widely on the internet, that may have had an effect on his sentence. It may have had an impact on his life and future prospects.

The cases can be discussed, the details parsed, the issues of ethnicity and socioeconomics, education and equal justice argued.

But focusing scholarly attention on the end of these crimes, on the punishment for these acts, takes away attention from a more important question:

Why? Why did these young men do such violent, cruel things?

What the hell were they thinking?

What could have stopped them before their destructive rages?

In 2017, when their generation is supposedly concerned with saving the world, making a difference, making sure everyone is included, innovating to create a better future, why did two young men from Hawaii think attacking animals was a great way to get their kicks?

Was it the same for both? Was the evil that crept into Shylo Akuna’s heart the very same evil that inspired Christian Gutierrez? Where did it come from? Where does it go now?

Reach Lee Cataluna at 529-4315 or lcataluna@staradvertiser.com.