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Petition Tag - parole
1. Democratic Restoration Act: - Convicted felons have the right to vote 
By denying people who have felonies the right to participate in voting is discriminating and undemocratic. The bill to withhold these rights was created during the Jim Crow era. With the purpose of barring African Americans the right to vote. These laws are still impacting today's society.
Seven times the national average is African Americans who cannot vote due to felony convictions. Pass the Democratic Restoration Act now so the people who are convicted of felonies can vote by the 2012 Presidential Election.
2. Keep Brynden Gibson's Child Murderer Peter M. Kerrigan in Prison without Parole
My son Brynden was a victim of Shaken Baby Syndrome at the hands of his murderer Peter M. Kerrigan.
After spending almost 3 years in and out of court my son's killer was given the minimum possible penalty no mother would ever wish upon the man that killed her son. The charges went from 1st degree murder and Aggravated Battery of a Child to Involuntary Manslaughter the state asking for no more then 20 years Kerrigan agreed to the plea.
The judge didn't even give him the 20 years he gave him basically in stating there is nothing bad on his criminal record he didn't deserve the whole amount of time, and like my son deserved to lose his life. He gave him 10 years in IDOC with time served and 50% off he will serve 2 years, for taking my son's life.
We have passed laws in illinois for harsher penalties and registration but Kerrigan didn't fall into those because he was already there. So what I am asking is that the Parole Board please consider revoking the parole, and making him spend the remainder of his time in prison. I don't feel like the justice system did my son well at all. I also believe if released early he will remain to be a menace to society as well as threats to babies and children in Williamson County, in Southern Illinois.
3. Deny Parole for Life Sentences on Premeditated Murderer
More than half of convicted felons guilty of first-degree murder who are aloud eligibility for parole are recommitted with in two years of being released for recidivism.
4. Mandatory jail sentencing of those who assualt the elderly
Violence against the elderly is becoming more and more common. The current sentencing laws are failing and these scumbags are getting away with these horrific crimes with little or no jail time.
• Police are investigating another vicious attack on an elderly man who was bashed and robbed after going to the aid of a distressed woman in Carlton, Victoria.
• In the same weekend police described as violent, despicable and horrendous attack on a 91-year-old stroke victim in a bungled home burglary.
• Late November, a 72-year-old man was bashed in an unprovoked assault as he left a late-night Melbourne tram.
• Also in November a 78-year-old woman was rushed to Wollongong Hospital after being found lying on the ground in November after being robbed of her handbag and groceries.
• Police appealed to the public in October to help find a teenager suspected of bashing a 75-year-old woman in Cairns. The woman was approached from behind and struck to the ground.
• In September, a 78 year old grandfather of eight was bashed repeatedly and ended up on life support.
• Again in September, a 99 year old great grandmother spent a week in hospital after she was molested, robbed and fought off an attempted rape in her own home.
• In August a TAXI driver bashed and robbed an 81-year-old woman in Melbourne.
This is disgusting, cowardly behaviour and these individuals deserve to be dealt with by the courts in the harshest manner possible! These thugs need to be locked up!!
A BRISBANE bus driver has been jailed, but released immediately, for causing horrific injuries to a 79-year-old passenger he assaulted for coming up 60 cents short on his fare. Dennis Chow, 40, was sentenced to 12-months jail, to be served by way of intensive corrections order. The victim, Mr Plazino was rushed to hospital where he was treated for the skull and facial fractures, lacerations to his face, hand and leg and various bruises. Doesn't sound like justice I hear you say!
A couple in their 70s were terrorised in the early hours of the morning by Brodie Hutchin. Hutchin was charged with assault in November 2010. He was sentenced to six months imprisonment and fined a total of $1000. The poor man and woman will probably live in fear for the rest of their lives. How would you be feeling if this was your mum and dad?
In June 2010, Grant Brown 31 of Mornington pleaded guilty to recklessly causing grievous bodily harm to John Lane aged in his seventies. Brown was jailed for two years with a non-parole period of 18 months. Sound fair?
Its about time Julia Gillard and the Australian Government introduced tougher sentencing laws to help stop the assault of our elderly.
5. No Parole For Ronald del Raine
On October 27, 1967, two Northlake police officers were killed by bank robbers who were holding up the Northlake Bank. The killers were apprehended, tried and convicted.
One of the perpetrators has since died, another, anothers release is pending a final parole hearing, and a third, Ronald del Raine, sentenced to 209 years, has a parole hearing in October 2012. He is the last living offender of this heinous crime and does not deserve to be paroled.
The United States Parole commission made a decision to grant parole on January 6, 2010 for Ronald del Raine's accomplice Henry Gargano with a tentative release date of September or October 2010. The United States Parole commission made this decision without notification to the families of the slain officers or to the Northlake Police Department.
We CANNOT have have two cop killers roaming the streets and compromising officer or public safety in any capacity.
On April 19, 2010, the City Council passed a resolution condemning the action by the parole commission, and to honor the memories of Sergeant Nagle and Officer Perri and will seek to have the decision stayed or reversed.
The Northlake Police Department will be contacting the officers families and others to write victim impact letters to the parole commission as well as undertaking petitions and other measures to seek a reversal of this decision by the parole commission."
6. Murdering Mum Leanne Smith should serve life in prison
I am starting this petition as this world and its rules needs reassessing, as no justice is being served.
Going to prison, convicted murderers, rapists etc is like a holiday, they have televisions, get well looked after. They should get treated like animals not royalty.
Too many children are getting murdered in this world and it's about time that people like you and so called Social Services put a stop to it. The lady who murdered 2 young children, as the news has stated the judge is wondering whether she should go to prison. I think people like her need the death penalty. I really think that that should come back in, as in those days, it was a nice world.
7. Help Bring the children from Haiti
Manneau and Evena Jean-Charles have began the adoption process of Stevinson, Millard and Sabine Jean-CHarles in 2007 from there homeland of Haiti.
The adoption process has been completed from the Haitain side, since the Haitian earthquake, and now under the policy involving Humanitarian Parole for Haitian Orphans signed by Secretary Janet Napolitano on January 18th 2010, we have requested our children to come to the United States, and made request via Homeland Security and the USCIS and Haitian Adoptions. All paperwork is in order.
To date the children, one of which is injured with two broken legs, and all three homeless, living in the streets of Haiti, have yet to be delivered into our care and custody.
8. Revise the Felony Murder Rule
What’s Wrong With The Felony Murder Rule- Common Sense:
1. It is fundamentally unfair and in violation of basic principles of individual criminal culpability to hold one felon liable for the unseen and unagreed-to results of another felon’s action.
2. The felony murder rule operates as a matter of law upon proof of the intent to commit a felony to relieve the prosecution of its burden of proving intent to kill, which is a necessary element of murder.
3. The intention to commit a felony does not equal the intention to kill, nor is the intention to commit a felony, by itself, sufficient to establish a charge of murder.
4. The felony murder rule violates the Fourteenth Amendment’s guarantee of due process, more specifically, equal protection of the law, because no defense is allowed on the charge of first-degree murder, only the underlying felony.
5. The purpose of creating degrees of murder is to punish with increased severity the more culpable forms of murder, but an accidental or unknown killing during the commission or attempted commission of a felony is punished more severely than all other murder charges with exception to first degree murder.
6. The felony murder rule erodes the relation between criminal liability and moral culpability in that it punishes all homicides in the commission, or attempted commission, of the proscribed felonies, whether intentional, unintentional, or accidental, without proving the relation between the homicide and the perpetrator’s state of mind.
7. Holding one or many criminally liable for the bad results of an act which differs greatly from the intended results is based on a concept of culpability which is totally at odds with the general principles of jurisprudence.
8. The basic rule of culpability is further violated when felony murder is categorized as first-degree murder because all other first-degree murders (carrying equal punishment) require a showing of premeditation, deliberation, and willfulness, while felony murder only requires a showing of intent to do the underlying felony.
9. While the felony murder rule survives in California, and other states, the numerous modifications and restrictions of it by some states courts and legislatures throughout the United States reflect dissatisfaction with the basic harshness and injustice of the doctrine and call into question its continued existence.
10. The felony murder rule can be used by prosecutors in a manner so as to cause grossly disproportionate sentencing, depending on the circumstances of each individual case.
11. The felony murder rule is unconstitutional because the presumption of innocence is thrown out. The prosecutor must only prove intent to commit the original felony; once done, first degree murder attaches to the underlying felony even though intent, (mens rea,) to commit murder does not have to be proved.
12. The felony murder rule is unconstitutional because it violates the Eighth Amendment: cruel and unusual punishment, grossly disproportionate sentencing to the crime(s) actually committed.
13. The felony murder rule bears no rational relationship or equity in its two penalties, with the penalties of other California murder laws, including, at times, the charge of first-degree murder.
9. Child Sex Offender Protection: Ambertrax
Please send a copy of this on your letter head if available to your local Senator and Congressman and delete this sentence. 1/2
AMBERTRAX
REAUTHORIZATION PETITION
A blind spot exists in law enforcements ability to protect our school children / grandchildren from registered sex offenders, whose void is about to get much bigger unless confronted, assigned our symbiotic mandates and a federal oversight program and support is passed into law.
10. Implement Electronic Home Detention
730 ILCS 5/) Unified Code of Corrections, (730 ILCS 5/Ch. V Art. 8A heading), ARTICLE 8A. ELECTRONIC HOME DETENTION, a law that because it has the word “may” instead of shall, they have been able to ignore for over 15 years. The law reads “ A person serving a sentence for conviction of a Class 2, 3 or 4 felony offense which is not an excluded offense may be placed in an electronic home detention program pursuant to Department administrative directives…”
It costs less than $2,000.00 per year for Electronic Home Monitoring; it costs between $32,000.00 and $100,000.00 per year to incarcerate a person, depending on age, medical, location.
The reason IDOC gives is “they did not allow Pontiac to close.. So our fixed costs would remain the same.. The savings on food, drugs, etc., are not that significant, so why bother with putting all the administrative procedures in place?”
Gov. Ed Rendell on Monday halted the early release of state prison inmates. Stopping the release of inmates because of what one person has done is unfair and unjust.
On April 7, 1969, Joseph McDonald was arrested for shoplifting at Petrie's Dress Shop, 322 Euclid Ave., by John McNamara, an off-duty Cleveland Police Officer. McDonald attacked Officer McNamara, and was able to disarm him (shooting him in the process).
McDonald then turned the weapon on a second off-duty Cleveland Police Officer, John Apanites Jr., killing him with four bullets.
McDonald (who had 37 prior arrests) was eventually apprehended, tried, convicted, and sentenced to death. However, because the U.S. Supreme Court threw out all death penalties wholesale in 1972, McDonald's sentence was commuted to life imprisonment.
Due to the State of Ohio's definition of life imprisonment, McDonald has an opportunity for parole in 2009.
13. Block the parole of Terry Erickson
Terry Lee Erickson’s lifelong goal was to rob a bank. On March 3rd, 1982 he had the chance. Erickson gunned down and killed an innocent man.
Gary Schmidt was making a late night deposit for his business in Beloit, WI when Erickson shot him at close range with a sawed off shot gun. He was sentenced to life with parole. After serving only 25 years in prison, he was granted work release. 25 years is hardly a life sentence compared to the life he took. However, in October 2008 he will have the chance to be released.
With the help of you, and your friends and family we hope to keep Erickson in prison. Not only for our own safety but also to help serve justice to those that are still feeling the loss of Gary.
14. Grant Robert Latimer parole as soon as possible
I hope this petition has already been started. More than Seven years ago Robert Latimer killed by carbon monoxide poison ing his severly disabled daughter to bring her excrutiatingly painful life to an end.
He has served 7 years in prison of a 10-year sentence and has just been refused parole because He didn't show remorse. How could he? He wasn't remorseful by definition.
He wanted her dead so that she would not be suffering intense pain .
In 1993, Robert Latimer killed his 12 year old daughter, Tracy. She had cerebral palsy and had many, many surgeries to correct this, and she was about to go for another one before she passed.
After he was convicted of second degree murder in 1994, a new trial was declared for Latimer, because it was brought to light that some jury members were asked what they thought of euthanasia and mercy killings. In 1997, the second trial jury reached the conclusion of second degree murder, but be allowed to apply for parole in one year. Three weeks later, Justice Judge Ted Noble gives Latimer "constitutional exemption" and gives him two years, one which would be served in the community.
The Saskatchewan Court of Appeals scratched that, and gave him life with parole in 10 years. No appeals worked after that, so now he sits in a minimum security prison in B.C. Today (Dec. 5), his bid for day parole was denied, because he still maintains that he felt it was the right decision.
16. Jasmine's Law
In Chicago Illinois On June 6, 2002 my beautiful grand-daughter Jasmine Vidol Mitchell entered the hospital, little did we know she would not leave alive, Jasmine passed on June 8, 2002, from blunt head tramua associated with "Shaken Baby Syndrome".
Jasmine's death was caused by her state licensed day care provider Versie Elaine Ramirez-Carr. We have recently learned this woman was released from prison, after being sentenced to Fifteen years. Correct me if I am wrong but this is 2007 she has not even served 1/2 of her time. As far as my family was concerned 15 years was not an appropriate sentence for taking the life of a child, rapists get more time than that.
We need help, as far as we know she is still licensed to care for children in the state of Illinois. At the time she was approved for the license she had a police record for gun charges, drug charges and was in violation of her probation. Has she never been granted a license in the first place, Jasmine would still be with us. I have provided her information below. If there is anyone out there who can help us start Jasmine Mitchell's Law please let us know. The main purpose of this law is to make sure candidates for child care provider licenses are carefully screened and follow-up screenings are provided to ensure no other family has to suffer the pain and injustice our family has.
We need someone to help our family since the justice system did not. To make matters worse my daughter's civil rights were violated, she signed up to be informed when Versie's parole hearing was due, needless to say the state failed yet again and she was not informed. The only way we had knowledge of this woman's release was by accident. My oldest daughter is attending college online and she was doing a story on capital punishment and decided to write her paper on Jasmine, to our shock and dismay we discovered this child killer had been released.
We, call on the U.S. Senate and House of Representative to pass a comprehensive Federal Law that would protect children from Child Abuse of any kind and would put more restrictive measures on those agencies whose job it is to protect children.
17. Free Salih !
Salih Abdullah #74-A-2614 has been incarcerated since January 21, 1973.
In determining whether to release Salih on parole, the New York State Board of Parole are required to consider and adhere to the "Legislative Mandate" pursuant to Executive Law ss 259i(2)(c)(a).
This has not been done in Salih's case; he has more than Satisfied all the requirements of the relevant Sub-sections of "Executive Law ss 259i(2)(c)(a) which actually qualified him for parole release years ago.
Whose interests are being served when parole is withheld or denied ? If you would like to see fair parole practices implemented for Salih and other New York State prisoners.
Please Sign this Petition.
Re: Terrance Daron Sampson, TDCJ No. 695288
Dear Board Members, Friends, Family and etc.
Please approve Terrence Sampson parole this is a petition on behalf of Terrence freedom!!
Looking at the nature of the crime and time period that he was sentence to jail. I do not agree with the fact that he should be in prison for his entire sentence. He was sentence at the age of 12 and now he is 30 years old. And due to the fact that he does not have a life sentence he will be release from prison one day.
According to the statements that were made this child reaction was an act of an emotional and distress child and not a man or some one whom planned and initially tried to kill his friend or him even knowing what was going to happen to him. He was a baby, and like any child he reacted and a foolish way, that causes him to be punished for 18 years of his life.
My heart goes out to the victim family because I too know how it feel to lose some one that you love and adore and to have them taken off the earth on the behalf of some one else it is devastating. At the same time when this happen to me I did not want to forgive and I wanted that person to suffer forever but I realized that's not my decision to make it is up to God and not me. I don't have the right to judge anyone future. The way I feel this has gone beyond what right and what wrong.
The young man has suffer more than we can possibly imagine he commit the crime at age 12 and been in prison for 17 years I think that he should be let go and if not now definitely later. How can you keep him in prison when he has done half of his time and more? Are you keeping him there because of the politics or the protesting? I know that you have released plenty of offenders who have committed crimes similar or more intense than this one.
I know how the family feel but parole is to give a person a second chance in life and I feel like it is over due don’t you? A child who never experiences anything and also has a family who misses and loves him as well. I think that he will be all right and I feel like he has been punished more than the next person who has committed a crime at a much older age as he. He has lost his life and I feel like he have done a life sentence already. No childhood, emotional distress, you probably had kids of your own let me ask you guys a question.
What if your child who has done this same crime what would you want to happen would you prefer 18 years or 30? Do you feel like they have learn a lesson through out all them years? Do you think that it right to keep your child for 30 years from age 12 to 30 can you honestly say that this person has not changed. I know I have changed through out the years can you say Mr. Sampson is the same person he use to be at the age 12.
I don’t think so. It happens to the best of people and could have been your child and his same shoes. Parole is about giving people second changes in life so please take this in some thought process and look at this case on all possible levels. Please help up free a man that has been in prison since 12 years old His project release date is December 02,2019.
He is an loving and respect man who has grown up to be a lovely person this child has been thrown in jail as a young boy and has went through all the heartache in pain from the accident and the way he has been treated through out his life in prison this petition is to help the parole board consider Terrence freedom form the state of Texas
19. Parole Protest - Lawrence Evans #029488
On December 20, 1969, Lawrence Evans entered Danny's Market Place armed with hand guns. In an attempt to rob the store, Evans fired multiple shots. Several bullets hit my father Lindberg Robinson and owner Danny Solomon fatally killing them both and Mrs Solomon was critically wounded.
20. HELP KEEP A MURDERER BEHIND BARS
THIS PETITION IS AN ATTEMPT TO KEEP MY FRIEND MICHELE'S STEP FATHER BEHIND BARS, HIS PAROLE HEARING IS IN DEC. 2008.
MICHELE WAS 17 AT THE TIME OF HER MURDER. DETAILS ARE KIND OF A BLUR AS I WAS ONLY 12 AT THE TIME. He brutally beat her with a lead pipe over the head until she was dead. Then he ran and tossed the murder weapon. Two days later he was caught and has been in prison since his arrest and conviction. This man's actions have affected so many people for a life time.... taking someone very very special from us.
Michele will NEVER have a chance to live her life , so therefore why should Calvin Frasier????
CALVIN D. FRASIER - DIN # IS 84D0053 WAS SENTENCED TO 25 YEARS TO LIFE. I PROMISED MICHELE I WOULD MAKE MY VOICE HEARD....SO HELP ME LET OUR VOICE BE HEARD.
PLEASE HELP ME KEEP THIS MAN FROM WALKING THE STREETS AND HARMING SOMEONE ELSE'S CHILD.
21. Domestic Violence Victim, to be notified of the offender's Parole Hearing
The current law states that a victim of Domestic Violence, is only notified of the offender's hearing, if requested, and the crime must be a felony.
22. Tony Bliar to be Prosecuted for War Crimes
Through his lying and subservience to the USA, Tony B'liar is guilty of War Crimes in taking the UK into a war launched by the US, not sanctioned by the UN and based on fabricated evidence.
Dozens of British Service personell have died as result of B'liar's ILLEGAL War & he should stand trial - with a view to him being imprisoned for life without parole.
23. Child Abuse Prevention Act
This petition was inspired by a 4 year old little girl named Summer Phelps. Summer was basically invisible to everyone since she was only 4 and did not attend school.
Summer endured months of horrifying torture and abuse at the hands of her father and stepmother, who were eventually arrested and charged with her murder by abuse. You can learn more about Summer's case by going to these sites:
http://www.myspace.com/summerswish07
http://www.krem.com/news/local/stories/krem2_042607_lytletrial.e90a58b.html
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,258385,00.html
In 1987 Elias M. Bedoy was sentenced to nine years to life with parole for attempted first-degree murder with the use of a firearm.
At age 40 now and after being incarcerated for more than 19 yearshe has remained discipline free for approximately 18 years. Throughout these years he has made relentless efforts to enhance his ability to function with the law upon his release. He accepts full responsibility for his crime and is remorseful for his actions and the victims.
He maintains a very close bond with family and friends. He has a strong relationship with god that sees him through and gives him strength to do his will.
This gives Elias hope that he will be given a second chance to live life to the fullest. Then a boy and now a man he is ready to be the law abiding citizen, brother, son and friend he has grown to be.
25. Police Officer Robert Sorrentino, deny Russell Carroll parole
UPDATE 11/3/08: Russell Carroll's parole hearing has been scheduled for December 2008.
UPDATE, 2/16/2007: Russell Carroll has been denied parole for this year. Thank you all for your continued support and kind words. I am keeping this petition up and active, as his next parole hearing is scheduled for February 2009.
.................................................
On April 10, 1980, NYPD Officer Robert Sorrentino of the 101st Pct. was shot three times while chasing several robbery suspects in Far Rockaway, Queens.
He and his partner had split up to chase the suspects who had also split up. After his partner captured one of the suspects, he heard shots fired and ran to the scene where he found Officer Sorrentino suffering gunshot wounds.
He was transported to a local hospital and, after undergoing more than fifteen hours of surgery, the removal of one of his kidneys, and extensive repairs to his pancreas, the married father of three later died from his wounds on April 24, 1980. The five men were sentenced on 106 counts of felony murder, robbery, and weapons charges. They were all given the maximum sentence, 25 years to life. All but one have since died in prison.
Russell Carroll, who was on parole at the time he committed this crime, is up for parole for the second time in February 2007, and will be eligible for parole every two years after that. My family, still grieving, do not want to see this man go free.
26. Stop Sending Prisoners Out Of State In Idaho
July 17, 2006
Idaho prisons are severely overcrowded.
Instead of sending our prisoners out of state and costing taxpayers thousands of dollars we need to reevaluate our sentencing procedures.
Instead of sending people to prison for minor probation and parole violations such as dirty UA we need to look towards rehabilitation instead.
If we released all of the first time parole violators with non-violent crimes, there would be no need to send any of our prisoners out of state.
27. Petition against parole for New York cop killers
On August 14, 1980 police officer Harry R Ryman was off duty and sleeping in his residence, located within the confines of the 63rd precinct in Brooklyn New York.
After being awakened as the result of the suspicious noises on the street, officer Ryman equipped himself with his shield and off-duty revolver and went to investigate. He observed 3 males attempting to steal a car.
Officer Ryman identifying himself as a police officer and was fired upon and immediately returned fire. Although fatally wounded, officer Ryman was able to wound one of his assailants before falling unconscious.
The suspects fled in an auto but the wounded felon was arrested when he sought aid and the two remaining perpetrators were subsequently arrested.
28. John Lennon Tribute for Fair Parole Consideration and Human Rights
December 24, 2005
John Lennon Human Rights Memorial Tribute for Prisoner Rights and fair objective consideration.
Being that one of the few people in the world who has been introduced to John Lennon, and then later also meeting Mark David Chapman, and have had for a long time had a memorial to John Lennon online I have strong interest in anything related to both.
Upon reading the petition to keep Mark David Chapman off of parole, and in prison/s that are called correctional institutions I thought it was bizarre and a travesty that John Lennon's name was invoked in the manner it was against Mark David Chapman, considering that John was such a strong avid believer of civil, human, Native American, and prisoner etc rights.
WHEREAS Imagining John Winston Lennon developing as the rough young man who some would of once considered a roughneck greaser hoodlum punk, into a decent loving husband, peace loving father and enlightened person he was distinguished from the person he was once thought of early in life:
WHEREAS the land of John Lennon's England and Wales, ended capital punishment ended in 1965, has taken a view that differs from the punitive one in America we as enlightening people like Mr. Lennon must consider that in regard to the punishment of Mark David Chapman who had been sentenced to 20 years to life in prison for his murder of John Lennon upon confession to the bizarre crime.
WHEREAS incarceration in the instance of Mark David Chapman's should serve as punishment for some rehabilitative corrective purpose, not a punitive one in retribution that defined ultimately as cruel and unusual punishment that is forbidden under the US constitution prohibition of cruel and unusual punishment.
WHEREAS we take notice that Mr. Lennon of beloved memory had made numerous efforts in support of justice, peace, freedom as a progressive person; and,
WHEREAS, in this instance we would think it is bizarre to have John Lennon remembered as the pretext for reactionary actions that seem to go against everything Mr. Lennon believed; and
WHEREAS, being that already since incarceration December 8, 1980, Mark David Chapman has served twenty-five years, and now has been eligible for parole for approximately five years, and has been turned down twice for parole, we petition as follows:
29. Get Mr Baldy Out Of Frankston North
Get the convicted and repeat offending pedophile away from civilisation, children, schools and people.
IF Victorian serial child sex offender Brian Keith Jones had been jailed in South Australia, the State Government would have kept him behind bars until he died. The hard line on law and order has become this Government's trademark. It will be remembered, more than anything, for overturning parole orders, challenging sentences and thumbing its nose at the conventions of the legal system.
At times, the Government has stepped perilously close to breaching the traditional separation of powers between elected government and the judiciary. But Premier Mike Rann can read opinion polls as well as anyone. This apparently tough law-and-order stance is publicly, and therefore politically, popular.
Brian Jones should be in prison. He is one of the most despicable people in Australia. Jones does not deserve liberty, yet the Victorian legal system has released him from prison. This is quite different from granting Jones his freedom. He is destined to be hounded to his grave by a remorseless and resentful public.
A brief reminder. Jones, also known as Brian John Megson, was nicknamed Mr Baldy after he abducted six boys, shaved their heads, dressed them in girls' clothes and sexually assaulted them. In 1981, he was given 32 years in jail which meant he could be held until 2013. But in 1989, he was paroled - and, three weeks later, he raped a nine-year-old boy and sexually abused the boy's younger brother. For that, he received a 14-year sentence which expires in August. The Victorian Labor Government released him on parole last month. Since then, his whereabouts have twice been exposed by concerned members of the public.
PROPOSED laws to keep Mr Baldy behind bars indefinitely were rejected by the Bracks Government last year. And it has emerged it could cost up to $1 million a year to keep the convicted child rapist in the community - compared with about $60,000 in jail.
30. Virginia - We have paid our debt to society.
By the end of 2001, a record 6.6 million people were in the United States correctional system. One in every 32 adults was either in prison or on parole. Almost 4 million people were on probation at the end of 2001, up 2.8 percent over 2000. The prison population grew by 1.1 percent, the smallest annual increase in nearly three decades.[1]
The increased number of prisoners has resulted in increased numbers of released prisoners seeking to reenter mainstream society. This is creating a major social and public policy problem in the United States. People enter prisons poorly equipped to be productive members of society and they typically leave prison in worse shape than they enter it. The problem of recidivism is partially due to this poor preparation for the world outside of prison. Ex-offenders cannot find or hold jobs and before long many renew a life of crime and are returned to jail.
Marc Mauer, assistant director of the Sentencing Project, a Washington think tank that follows criminal-justice issues, said the laws are taking jobs away from people who served time for their mistakes and have since put their lives back together.
"You have lots of felons who were convicted 20 years ago and who haven't been involved in a crime since," he said.
The vast majority of those in jail do not present a direct, violent threat to the average citizen. Many are drug addicts and dealers, and a large number are illegal aliens. Hardened, violent criminals are a minority of those incarcerated. Unfortunately, the conditions in prisons themselves and the stigma of having a criminal record often lead those incarcerated to increasing levels of anti-social behavior.
What happens to those of us that have complied with and have truely been rehabilatated? We deserve to work and take care of our families. After all, we paid our debt to society.
