First...WM: I'm not letting the Gov off the hook. It was an attention grabbing stunt, but the attention was
Rick writes:
"Frankly, I'd rather that the Mpls council _not_ follow Pawlenty's "leadership" model ... they'd probably call for the death penalty the next time there's an emotionally charged situation or some other attention-grabbing stunt."
The Governor is displaying leadership by addressing an issue that most are afraid to tackle, it's hardly an "attention-grabbing stunt". It is really shameful for you to classify it as such! We may not agree with him on the death plenty for these crimes, keeping them locked up maybe the better alternative but at least he is addressing the issue of letting them out. In fact, he is taking a great deal of flak from even his friends on this issue. They think it'll create too many problems for them to tackle, but the Governor is trying address a real public safety issue and should be patted on the back for it.
being grabbed to insert the notion of the death penalty into an already difficult situation. A death penalty would not have addressed the issue of the kidnapping/perhaps rape/perhaps murder of Ms. Sjodin. The sexual predators (actually all predators) need to be held away from the rest of the population so they can do no more damage than they already have. The parole board not only did not listen to a voice among its members saying that the culprit was escalating his violence against women, but that he would continue to escalate, as patterns of violence among sexual predators have shown. The parole board also said that because the culprit was over 50 years old, his likelihood of reoffending goes down. This, though the parole board believes it can cite statistics, is not true. Cat burglary and some other types of crime tend to be committed by people under 50, it cannot be extended to apply to predators. It's not enough for the Gov to come up with a suggestion, he should also come up with one that makes sense. Taking a terrible situation like that in the Sjodin case and using it to give the nod to some of his supporters, is not a good idea for a governor.
WizardMarks, Central
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