My thanks to Howie Carr for these blood pressure raising stories. I’m all for redemption and rehabilitation of non-violent criminals, but these stories are enraging.
http://www.bostonherald.com/news/opinion/columnists/view.bg?articleid=1070906&srvc=home&position=also
If I ever get in trouble with the law, or am thinking about committing a crime, I’m going to Assachusetts. This is a state that is in the process of making it illegal for a parent to spank their child, under any circumstances…yet, there’s no problem with freeing convicted killers, child molesters and rapists on a regular basis.
Can someone explain this to me? Maybe the jack booted thugs at Department of Social Services can tell me. Maybe the judges and politicians who routinely see murderers freed can. Maybe the authorities in Massachusetts just hate families and love criminals. I don’t know.
The latest skewed article is this puff piece, http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2008/02/27/commutation_plea_carries_a_political_risk_for_patrick/?page=1 about poor Arnold King, a decent guy who has spent 36 years behind bars, all for one mistake, one moment in time that happened when he was just 18.
So why shouldn’t he be paroled? He’s been a model prisoner. I don’t dispute that. If released, I doubt he would re-offend. He’s got his master’s while in prison, he’s counseled other inmates. Good guy.
But a killer. He ended the life of 26 year old John Labanara. He shot him in the head during a robbery.
King argues that, “In this society, everybody gets a second chance.”
John Labanara doesn’t.
While John Labanara’s corpse lies gone and forgotten, King is a cause celeb among the politically correct crowd in Massachusetts. The parole board has recommended he be paroled, despite the fact his sentence was life without parole. Academics, liberal local politicians, city councilors, all want him released.
King adds that, “…I want people to understand is there is a possibility for change.”
I agree with him. I believe he’s changed. But I don’t want him released.
If he had only robbed Labanara, without a gun, I would be all for leniency, provided he’s shown change. But he took a human life, an irrevocable act. Labanara had parents, family, friends, a whole life ahead of him that he didn’t get to live. It’s over and Labanara remains 26 forever.
If you’re a parent, picture that being your kid.
I’m the first to say there are too many people in prison in the USA. Fully one in a hundred of us is serving time. The rate among men is higher. The rate among black men is higher still. Still others have been in prison at some point.
What’s more, this is a drain on the rest of us. Felons don’t produce anything, don’t pay taxes, and need to be supported by the rest of us. Something should change.
But, if we lock up too many people, it’s not because we’re unfairly harsh on killers or rapists. It’s because we’re locking up too many non-violent offenders, recreational drug users, etc. Why not release some of them to free up space for the worst of the worst?
I’m afraid releasing King sends the wrong message. I know that, as any prison guard will tell you, you have to give prisoners some incentive to behave, otherwise their job is impossible.
But I don’t want to give hope for a second chance to killers. We can focus on rehabilitation if you want, but prison is not really there to rehabilitate, it’s there to protect the public. It’s also there to deter.
I want people to know that if you kill someone in this country, it’s over for you. There is no getting away with it. There is no parole. I don’t really care that King has been a great prisoner. In fact, I wonder why is given a free education at taxpayers expense, while I can’t afford to take time off and go to night school…I have to work, I have to raise a kid.
Why are politicians writing letters of recommendation to free someone who killed one of their citizens? Do we ever remember victims in this country?
And who do I have to kill go get a letter of recommendation? I guess it has to be some one in Massachusetts. Then I can get my degree at taxpayer expense, stop paying child support, spend all day on line or exercising…heck, maybe Massachusetts will even bring back a Michael Dukakis specialty: weekend furloughs.
Seems reasonable to me.
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