Posted by
GunnyG© on Friday, October 26, 2007 2:11:48 AM
The story The Gunny ran about the two scumbags in New Haven has been burning a hole in his gut. Here is an essay on why the death sentence must be imposed and how to do it effectively.
“These are the times that try men's souls.” That was the lead in sentence for Thomas Paine’s classic, “The American Crisis.” We are at a crisis in America right now and one of our own making; we have fouled our own nest. That is, the rights of criminals surpass the rights of the victims. I am pro-death penalty and firmly believe that when the death penalty is properly applied, that criminals will think twice about performing heinous acts like the one that occurred in Connecticut.
On 23 July 2007, two criminals out on parole, Joshua Komisarjevsky, 27, of Cheshire, and Steven Hayes, 44, of Winsted, entered the home of Doctor William Petit and his family, about 3 a.m., planning to burglarize it. When they found the family home, they beat Dr. Petit, and then tied up his wife and daughters. The family was terrorized, the husband beaten to within an inch of his life, his wife and daughters violated, and later murdered. The Medical Examiner stated: "One of the deceased was burned beyond recognition, with indications that an accelerant was liberally poured on her. The remaining two victims appeared to have some indication of accelerant being poured onto or in close proximity to them, but not to the same degree as the other victim." Hawke-Petit was strangled and the two girls died of smoke inhalation, according to the medical examiner. They set fire to the house, endangering others and after being caught, police found a package for a BB gun, duct tape, a Lowe's Home Improvement store receipt, flexible ties and different types of gloves in the car they stole. Doctor Petit must now live with the horror inflicted on him by paroled criminals.
The recidivism rate in America is around 60% (USDoJ) and that means that six out of every ten criminals released out onto the streets of America commits another crime and heads back to jail. The US Department of Justice tracked the rearrest, re-conviction, and re-incarceration of ex-convicts for three years after their release from prisons in 15 States in 1994. Their findings include:
1. Released prisoners with the highest rearrest rates were robbers (70.2%), burglars (74.0%), larcenists (74.6%), motor vehicle thieves (78.8%), those in prison for possessing or selling stolen property (77.4%), and those in prison for possessing, using, or selling illegal weapons (70.2%).
2. Within 3 years, 2.5% of released rapists were arrested for another rape, and 1.2% of those who had served time for homicide were arrested for homicide.
3. The 272,111 offenders discharged in 1994 had accumulated 4.1 million arrest charges before their most recent imprisonment and another 744,000 charges within 3 years of release. (WTF OVER!)
4. In 2001, an estimated 2.7% of adults in the U.S. had served time in prison, up from 1.8% in 1991 and 1.3% in 1974.
5. Of the 272,111 persons released from prisons in 15 States in 1994, an estimated 67.5% were rearrested for a felony or serious misdemeanor within three years, 46.9% were reconvicted, and 25.4% resentenced to prison for a new crime.
6. The 272,111 offenders discharged in 1994 accounted for nearly 4,877,000 arrest charges over their recorded careers.
7. Within 3 years of release, 2.5% of released rapists were rearrested for another rape, and 1.2% of those who had served time for homicide were arrested for a new homicide.
8. Of the 9,691 male sex offenders released from prisons in 15 States in 1994, 5.3% were rearrested for a new sex crime within 3 years of release.(That is 484 new victims in three years!)
9. Of released sex offenders who allegedly committed another sex crime, 40% perpetrated the new offense within a year or less from their prison discharge.
10. Fifty-three percent of jail inmates were on probation, parole or pretrial release at the time of arrest.
11. Four in 10 jail inmates had a current or past sentence for a violent offense.
This is simply unacceptable behavior on both the criminal as well as the American Criminal justice System that is supposed to protect society and it’s members from the predations of an element without self-respect, respect for others, or basic human compassion. The ACLU and other liberal lawyers will argue that it’s not the criminal’s fault, that it’s their upbringing, their mother smoked, father beat them, they dropped out of school, ate too many twinkies (Twinkie Defense), etc, etc, ad nauseum. It is not the responsibility of society to take this into account. If a criminal commits a crime, too bad, they have now forfeited all rights as a member of our society. We, as the law-abiding citizens are owed by our government that we support through taxes, a life without fear of criminal predation.
"Do you want to make it a Federal case?” Those were the words spoken by criminals back in an era where if one shot a police officer and killed him, they had a pipeline that ended at the electric chair. If a criminal had the audacity to shoot and kill a police officer, then they will kill a citizen without batting an eye. In today’s society, we have the ACLU, the Catholic Church, the Mexican Government, The Europeans, etc, all bemoaning the fact that the US executes criminals who need to die for their crimes. Indeed, liberals will point out that keeping a prisoner locked up for life is cheaper than executing him/her. This is plainly false when one factors in the twenty or thirty years of feeding, clothing, housing, health care, court costs, prison guard salaries, prison guard health care, pension plans, legal fees, endless appeal costs, and on and on. If a prisoner received a fast trial, followed by a fast appeal, ONE SHOT ONLY, to the next higher court, which must be reviewed in three-to-five working days, the cost of an execution would be negligible. Indeed, an execution should be performed by the citizens in order to impress upon them the results of wrongdoings.
In the above statistics, in 1974 only 1.3% of the population had served time compared to 2.7% in 2001. Why is this? Because prison has become a revolving door where one goes in for a minor crime, gets training from the other criminals, lifts weights, grows to hate the system, and gets paroled stronger and meaner than before. The parole board unleashes a monster on the public and will not have to suffer the consequences of their actions. Consider this. A criminal gets paroled like the above story and commits a heinous crime, and some innocent person, persons, or family is ripped to shreds for the rest of their days. The siblings of a murdered brother or sister never forget it and the parents feel a hole in their hearts until the day they die. Somehow, the ACLU and the other do-gooders seem to lose sight of that fact. The criminal must never be considered as having more rights than those that he/she/they injured.
According to a paper written by the Federal Bureau of Prisons on 4 August, 1994, the recidivism rate among violent offenders is over 60% yet they get paroled and allowed back amongst the population and invariably, another crime occurs. For example, in the statistics above, 2.5% of released rapists were rearrested for another rape within three years. That is roughly 250 rapes a year by repeat felons and those are the ones that get reported. How many rapes, robberies, and other violent crimes go unreported every year that in a perfect world would be reported? The number is probably beyond belief.
Why are violent killers, rapists, kidnappers, not being executed like they used to be? Liberals today decry that an innocent man might be executed but with today’s technology, i.e., DNA, this is unlikely. What is a definite is that an executed criminal will not rape, kidnap, or murder every again. That means some future victim is spared the agony of a violent attack. Actor Scott Glenn, when studying for the part of the G-Man in “Silence of the Lambs” went to the FBI Academy an anti-death penalty proponent. He listened to a rape-murder on a 911 tape, broke down into tears, and became a PRO death penalty proponent. Maybe we need to force the ACLU and the anti-death penalty advocates to listen to the screams of a victim over and over until they understand that violent criminals are animals, nothing more.
In closing, America in the early 1900’s was a place where neighbor helped neighbor and criminals were punished, harshly. Those that refused to follow the mores of society and, make no mistake, that is what career criminals are, and were on a one-way track to Ol’ Sparky. Harsh? Possibly. But who is ultimately responsible for their behavior? The person committing the act and that person and not the rest of society should be the one to suffer the consequences. Our tax dollars should be spent on those who obey our laws, not on those who can’t or won’t. Those who are anti-death penalty are those people who have never lost a family member to a rapist or murderer. Those that cannot live in society must be permanently removed from it otherwise, they still pose a threat. Like the two paroled criminals above.
http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/crimoff.htm#findings
http://noliberalspin.townhall.com/g/9710ca95-932a-4ca2-9eef-21f35f258598