Ressler interviewed John Wayne Gacy, whose opening line was along the likes of “I knowyou. We grew up in the same neighborhood.” Ressler thought it was typical serial murder bullshit, but Gacy described delivering groceries to Ressler’s mother’s house, the skating arcade and the church where their Cub Scout meetings were held!
I was talking about the US. Most states added that penalty in the late 80s/early 90s.
The fact that Europe has no such thing shows that the trend is going away from it. In my opinion, it is more cruel than the death penalty.
I can’t imagine a state governor a few years from now looking at a clemency petition from a 65 year old prisoner who has done 50 years because of a murder committed at age 15. Model prisoner, no serious infractions, but one stupid crime done when he was a kid.
What would be the purpose of continued incarceration? Justice for the victim? He’s been dead for 50 years. Think of someone who was murdered in 1961. Unless he was a family member, you think, damn that was a lifetime ago; a lot of people have died since then. This crime is ancient; let this old man go home.
I have difficulty visualizing this scenario as well, since it is highly unlikely that a life sentence without parole would be given to someone who did one “stupid” murder at age 15.
Recently in another thread I mentioned hearing about a 1950s crime in which a man approached a car on a lover’s lane containing two couples, ordered them to strip, raped the two women and stole the car. Shortly thereafter two cops unaware of the incident stopped the car for a traffic violation. He shot them dead. Decades later he was traced by forensic evidence, brought to trial (at which he cried) and was convicted and sentenced to jail, even though he was by that time a respected businessman with a family. Should he have gotten off the hook for that “ancient” crime? The two police officers after all were long dead and the rape victims had probably gotten over it, right?
This is such an ill-informed statement that it hardly needs rebuttal. I would point out that incarceration in the U.S. has long been based on factors including separation from society (to protect the innocent from the criminal), deterrence, rehabilitation and yes, punishment (which constanze declares to be “revenge”).
Corporal punishment is such a rarity in U.S. schools that when it occurs it is newsworthy (and those teachers/administrators who employ it are at considerable risk of facing criminal charges or civil suits).
I’m not a US legal historian, but there was probably a point at which they’d been taken off the books before their reintroduction. The concept of “parole boards” is a lot more recent than the US Constitution. So, even without looking outside your borders, there has to be information on what happens when you’ve got “hard lifers”.
I think the point of the argument is not whether this happens but that it could happen and even one time is too much.
Such is another example regarding the death penalty. If you execute them, it’s the only way to be certain, they’ll never do it again.
In a lot of states LWOP is a mandatory sentence for first degree murder. Florida and California immediately come to mind.
The difference here is that the perp never spent any time in jail and justice had not been served. If this man had been caught in the 1950s, he would have been executed long ago. In the 1960s, he would have left prison a long time ago. Either way, justice was unanswered in this case.
And if 10 years later you find hard evidence that the person sentenced was innocent, then you can’t bring him back and set him free, either.
I read an article in law school arguing that state governors, and the President for Federal offenses, should be much more aggressive in using pardons and commutations to set free geriatric prisoners who’ve served long sentences already but pose no further risk to society. The author acknowledged that no politician ever wants to be accused of being “soft on crime,” though, and that some crimes - even after the passage of decades - would be hard to thus address.
Another interesting case involving a murderer recently sentenced to life in prison without parole.
I saw this one on “Forensic Files” last night. Daniel Tavares was convicted of the 2007 execution-style murders of his newlywed neighbors. Four months earlier he’d gotten out of prison in Massachusetts for stabbing his mother to death and serving 16 years (an unsuccessful attempt was made to keep him in Mass. for assaulting two prison guards). He told authorities in Washington state that he shot his neighbors to death because they insulted he and his wife, and after spending all that time in prison he didn’t have to take insults.
No doubt the staff and inmates at his new prison are looking forward to a long and productive relationship with him.
And in twenty or so years he’ll be in his early 60s, memories of his crimes fading, and someone will likely stump for his release on the grounds that he’s an old man, his victims are long dead, and let him go home.
How many 15-year-olds get life without parole for “one stupid crime”?