Indicting the Justice System
January 27th, 2007This story in the Tribune today is heartbreaking and infuriating. I’ll summarize it for you, but I’d recommend reading it: man murders five year old boy in his sleep, slitting his throat; stabs mother several times (only stops when she pretends to have died); gets life in prison. He eventually gets out on parole, after years of trying (but failing, with help from the testimony of the murdered boy’s father) he gets out and kills a sixteen year old girl, burying her in a cornfield. Now he’s on trial again, and now he’ll likely die in prison.
I believe that parole should be a process that exists, and I do believe in rehabilitation the idea, but I can’t understand how anyone can believe that a man who slit a five year old’s throat can be “rehabilated” or deserves a “second chance.” There’s just a certain evil inherent in killing a defenseless person that makes denial of parole and life in prison and perhaps execution a no-brainer. This is one of those cases, and this is an indictment of our justice system.