That&#x27;s not empathy, that&#x27;s memory. Poor kids growing up in crime-ridden neighborhoods have PTSD; does this judge sit with them, or bury them under the jail?<p>edit: To be even a bit more contrarian here, sympathy in judges is something that I actively dislike, and why I&#x27;m a progressive in support of mandatory minimums, which is pretty much blasphemy. Sympathy in judges is why an affluenza defense can work, and why rapists sometimes get sentenced to probation.