It’s not just the United States where brutal criminals are coddled.

Add Scotland to the list of places where barbarism is embraced by the criminal justice system. England too, if you are a South Asian.

A brutal rapist walked out of the courtroom without any prison time. Since he only raped a girl he isn’t considered much of a danger to the community.

Girls don’t count for much in Scotland anyway. Unless they are transgender. Then the state will go all out for you. One must have priorities, you know.

Back in 2018 Sean Hogg brutally raped a 13-year-old girl as she played in a park. He was recently tried for the crime and, after being found guilty, he was sentenced to…270 hours of community service.

No, I am not kidding. The judge scolded the man and told him the crime was very serious indeed. So serious, in fact, that he declined to send him to jail.

Judge Lord Lake said: “Rape is one of the most serious crimes and that is why it is tried at the High Court.

“Looking at the circumstances – her age and vulnerabilities are aggravating factors.

“For the level of seriousness, I have to consider your liability and have regard to your age as a factor.

“This offence, if committed by an adult over 25 you attract a sentence of four or five years.

“I don’t consider that appropriate and don’t intend to send you to prison.

“You are a first offender with no previous history of prison – you are 21 and were 17 at the time.

“Prison does not lead me to believe this will contribute to your rehabilitation.”

The leniency with which he is being treated is partly due to the new sentencing guidelines pushed by Nicola Sturgeon’s Scottish National Party, back when she was First Minister. The same party that went whole hog with gender ideology also went whole hog with the reasoning that people under 25 don’t have enough brain development to make serious decisions.

Under new court guidance, criminals under the age of 25 are treated more leniently because of their alleged brain immaturity.

The guidelines were drawn up by the controversial Scottish Sentencing Council (SCC), which was set up by the SNP Government in 2015 – a year after Nicola Sturgeon became first minister – and led by Lady Dorrian, the Lord Justice Clerk.

You can get your genitals removed as a kid, but rape a 13-year-old girl and it’s all good, because you are too young to know right and wrong before 25.

Insanity.

This is, of course, the same reasoning many of the Soros prosecutors use to justify being lenient with violent criminals in the United States. Many violent felons are never charged with gun crimes, which only exist to persecute law-abiding Republicans in any case.

Court papers state that Hogg attacked the girl on various occasions between March and June 2018. They also say he assaulted the teenager by threatening her and pulling down her clothing.

He then seized her by the wrists and forced her to commit a sex act before going on to rape the youngster.

As well as being ordered to carry out unpaid work, Hogg was put under supervision and placed on the sex offenders’ register for three years.

At Hogg’s sentencing at the High Court in Glasgow yesterday, Lord Lake said that he had considered guidelines on offenders under the age of 25.

He also concluded that prison would not contribute to the thug’s rehabilitation and took into account the fact he was a first-time offender.

Rehabilitation? What sort of rehabilitation can you expect from a rapist who terrorized a child and then got away with it? Is he going to become a counselor or a lawyer after realizing the gravity of his actions?

For God’s sake. He raped a child. And has walked. I don’t think rehabilitation is in the cards.

These laws are just a “get out of jail free” card for criminals. The fact is that most violent criminals are in their teens and 20s, and absolving them from any responsibility until their late 20s invites a free-for-all of crime. Which, if you haven’t noticed, is becoming a norm in the Western world.

The alternative to a criminal justice system that punishes criminals is a vigilante justice system that will eventually destroy society. Part of the bargain we all make with society is that we delegate criminal justice to the courts in exchange for a promise that they will fairly and impartially mete out that justice.

Failing that, people take justice into their own hands. In such a situation you don’t wind up with “rehabilitation” but rather a bunch of dead bodies and ruined lives.

Government-provided justice is always imperfect, often infuriating, and occasionally just plain awful. But it is also the bedrock of civilization. Long ago it became clear that vigilante justice can be much worse, taking us too close to a state of nature where the sentence for every real or perceived slight is violence.

It is also a state where the strong can terrorize the weak. So while we know that the police and judicial system are imperfect, we agree to abide by the rules.

But this isn’t imperfection. It is a travesty that any sane person can recognize as such.

270 hours. For raping a 13-year-old girl.