![Teenage boys sentenced to write read a book and write a book report [Image: flickr.com]](https://staticr1.blastingcdn.com/media/photogallery/2017/7/2/660x290/b_502x220x82/teenage-boys-sentenced-to-write-read-a-book-and-write-a-book-report-image-flickrcom_1419975.jpg "Teenage boys sentenced to write read a book and write a book report [Image: flickr.com]")
A judge in Ohio is teaching two teenage boys an old-school lesson. Instead of sending them to jail for a long time to pay for a crime they committed, Judge Frank Forchione sentenced Jonas Rohr and Kyle Bodager to read a book about the Vietnam War or World War II and write a five-page Book Report in addition to performing community service.
Judge's orders
Rohr and Bodager went before the Stark County Common Pleas judge because they were using guns in target practice and a stray bullet hit Merle Webb in the face while he was mowing his lawn. The man is recovering from his injury and is expected to make a full recovery.
The situation could have been deadly.
The judge said the boys insisted they didn't intend to hurt anyone. However, they still needed to be punished for their use of firearms. He thought their punishment would have a greater impact especially around the Fourth of July holiday.
Jail time
One of the teens will have to spend seven days in jail, and the other received a 30-day jail sentence. After their jail time is over and they have turned in their book report, the boys will perform 200 hours of community service at the Ohio Veteran's Memorial Park in Clinton, Ohio.
The judge told Fox News this week that his goal was to teach the teens a lesson from what they did. Perhaps this will keep them out of his courtroom.
Not the first time
While this punishment seems unique, it isn't. Judges have imposed similar sentences on people, especially young people to teach them a lesson. Back in February, a Virginia judge sentenced five teenage boys to read books and watch films. The boys had to read one book a month for a whole year after they painted an African-American school with obscenities.
The 16 and 17-year-old boys were given a list of 35 books about racism to choose from such as Ernest Hemingway's "The Sun Also Rises," Alice Walker's "The Color Purple," and Harper Lee's "To Kill a Mockingbird." If they didn't want to read the 12 books, they could read nine of them and watch three films such as "Schindler's List" and "12 Years a Slave." They had to submit 12 reports based on the books or films in order to comply with their sentencing.
Judge Avelina Jacob also required the boys to visit the United States Holocaust Museum and the American History Museum and write a paper about each of the visits.
What the five boys in Virgina had to do seems to be much harder than what the Ohio teens had to do. However, both judges had the same goal in mind. They wanted to teach the teens a valuable lesson because of their behavior.
