I'm writing today in regard to ”;Convicts will serve time sequentially”; (Star-Bulletin, Nov. 25). I realize our prison system is overpopulated and that granting probation in some cases (type of offense, first offender) is sometimes the solution. However, the key words to remember here are “;in some cases”; coupled with “;type of offense.”;

Barbara and Gabriel Kalama were convicted of abusing five children - Barbara's cousins - who were entrusted to their care. Rita Makekau, the children's aunt, was convicted of second-degree assault and sentenced to five years in prison.

The details of this case are horrifying. Prosecutors alleged that the children - three boys and two girls - were hit with metal spoons, starved for days and forced to hit each other. One had a firecracker taped to one of their little hands and lit. Prosecutors said Gabriel Kalama forced one child to eat another's feces. These are not minor offenses; they are clear-cut acts of physical and psychological abuse to minors who are unable to defend themselves against the power of adults - adults who promised to protect and care for them.

What is so unbelievable and upsetting about this case is that the Kalamas received minimal sentences - five years' probation and one year in jail, to be staggered so at least one of them can be home to care for their own five children. Since when do we provide such leniency for such a crime? Why were the couple's own five children not removed from their custody? Generally, in abuse cases, all minors are removed from the abuser's care until a full investigation can be conducted by Child Protective Services.

As it stands, the five victims will suffer the effects of this abuse for the rest of their lives and chances are high that the Kalamas will abuse their own children, if they haven't already. In a way, they already have been by subjecting their children to be witness to the acts they committed against their cousins. The Kalamas exhibited and exercised behaviors that will be viewed as acceptable by the young, developing minds of their children and more importantly in the minds of the children they abused.

  Worse yet, statistics show that children who are exposed and/or victim to abusive behaviors will turn around and exhibit the same sorts of behaviors themselves, especially if they remain in the custody of the abusers - in this case, their parents. There are two reasons for this: first, children will view the behaviors exhibited as a normal way to express oneself and second, since they are still under the care of their parents, they will think nothing is wrong - in effect condoning their parent's behavior.

This story is one of many. If we don't start imposing stronger sentences on abusers, we are letting down our children by essentially condoning the behaviors they were victim to, allowing the abuser to walk free with a slap on the hand, and leaving the children within reach of the hand of an abuser. We must remember that our children look to us for guidance, support and, most of all, protection. If these are not provided, children will grow up with a skewed set of values and a propensity to act out in order to express themselves.