Paroled murderer commits second murder within months of release

[Beren]

This oughta get LKD going:

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-s...e.html?cmp=rss

I don't mean to minimize this tragedy at all, but in my experience, the Parole Board really errs on the side of caution when making parole decisions. And it is USUALLY a tough sell.

But once in a very rare while, they flub it and something like this happens. And when it does happen, it is horrible, and a recipe for a sure fire media storm.

...

Now just by way of background, the Parole Board takes a lot into consideration, the inmate file that shows progress with programming, references from others, clinical and actuarial risk assessments, and all the rest of it. If any of that registers a possible risk, the Parole Board will shut it down (most of the time).

But recent research is coming out raising concerns that the whole process can be manipulated by full-blown psychopaths who can grease up and con parole boards into thinking they're changed men. I profoundly suspect this is one such case.

[T2Bruno]

The death penalty would stop repeat offenders ... just sayin'....

[reepnorp]

What worries me about this case in particular is that I have cousins around that age in that area. Still, I think it is far too easy for murderers to get parole in this country.

Family members of convicted criminals must have a hard time with things like this. Obviously they want to see their loved ones having freedom again, but at the same time if they are even quasi-rational people they will understand that people are worried about repeat offenders.

Speaking as someone who has never known anyone who has spent time in prison, I would much rather have someone I love locked up if it meant it was more difficult for someone who may kill again to be paroled.

[Aldeth the Foppish Idiot]

Falconer, 29, was granted parole a year ago after serving time in prison for the second-degree murder of a cab driver in 1998.

OK, so he killed a cab driver when he was 15? Is that why he was let out of prison - because he was a minor at the time of initial crime? I thought LKD said murderers were supposed to go to prison for 25 years?

[LKD]

Canada's Young Offenders Act says that crimes committed as a youth get MUCH more lenient sentences, especially if cobbled together with a sad sob story about a difficult home life and addictions issues. Plus it was 2nd degree murder as opposed to first.

Beren will likely remind me the Young Offenders Act has been modified and re-named. I can't remember the new name, and IMHO the changes were merely cosmetic anyway.

[Shoshino]

I wonder how the world would look if every crime was punishable by death...

[Blackthorne TA]

Much more empty

[joacqin]

So when should offenders bear the full brunt of the law? 18? 16? 15? 12? 7?

[dmc]

In the womb - they're people at that point, right?

In all seriousness (is that a word?) different societies establish adulthood at different levels. Here in the US, there is no uniform age among the states where you can be tried as an adult.

[Blades of Vanatar]

Originally Posted by joacqin

So when should offenders bear the full brunt of the law? 18? 16? 15? 12? 7?

That is one question that will probably never be answered.

IMO though, it should be determined ona case by case scenario.

[Aldeth the Foppish Idiot]

Originally Posted by dmc

Here in the US, there is no uniform age among the states where you can be tried as an adult.

(I know you know this dmc, but for those who might not...)

But at 18 you are tried as an adult. So while there's no MINIMUM age at which you can be tried as an adult, and certainly people under 18 have been tried as adults, the maximum age you can be and not be tried as an adult is 17.

Although even then there are differences in sentencing. For example, if you commit a capital crime as a minor, even if you are tried as an adult, you can't get the death penalty, regardless of whether or not the state you live allows them.

[LKD]

If you do it case by case, you run the risk of inconsistency.

If you set up firm dividing lines (as with the 18 year old one that currently exists in Canada and the U.S. (?) ) then you have an overly rigid system.

I know that "kids make mistakes", but come on. Get real and leave sunshineville. You cannot tell me that a 15 year old doesn't know that it's wrong to kill someone in cold blood.

I've taught teens, and it's so funny. When it comes to rights, they are there -- they claim they are mature enough to drink, hump, do drugs, and all the rest of it.

Yet when the time comes to face the consequences for their adult behaviours, "I'm just a kid!"

I'm all for second chances for minor mistakes, and even some major ones. But when defense attorneys try to make out a freaking murder as "it was just one mistake!", as if it's the same as a shoplifted candy bar, my blood really starts to boil.