22 consecutive terms of life imprisonment

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In the late 1970s in the state Nevada, USA, one Robert Butler was sentenced to 22 consecutive terms of life imprisonment. The mind fairly boggles at the thought of spending a lifetime in jail, let alone twenty-two of them; so just what sort of heinous crimes did this man commit? How many people did he slowly and sadistically torture, before murdering them in cold blood?

None. This unfortunate man had done nothing more than become involved in a love affair with a 14 year old pal which, because of sexual intimacies with him, had caused him to run afoul of a statute of the state which prescribes life imprisonment for each occasion. If he had, in fact, murdered his friend, perhaps he would have got away with only one life sentence.

source: 'Introduction'; From the book 'The Betrayal of Youth - Radical Perspectives on Childhood Sexuality, Intergenerational Sex, and the Social Oppression of Children and Young People'; Edited by Warren Middleton; CL Publications, London; 1986