# Should there be a reasonable time limit for capturing fugitives? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 1, 2011, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-there-be-a-reasonable-time-limit-for-capturing-fugitives/598272 "2011-10-01T20:10:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Martin\_Hyde](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/47e85d/32.png) [@Martin\_Hyde](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martin_Hyde)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2011, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-there-be-a-reasonable-time-limit-for-capturing-fugitives/598272/21 "2011-10-02T02:16:06Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > Very interesting comments so far. I was curious to gauge the current feelings about crime. This message board is one of the more liberal ones I visit and it’s interesting to hear from the Left. I “know” what the Tea Party folks would do to this guy. They’d throw him in prison until he dies. 😉 > > I grew up in the 70’s and at that time Prison Reform and Rehabilitation were huge social issues. That’s why I said this guy would have been paroled by his fifteen year mark. It’s was a different time and attitude about crime. The pendulum swung towards harsher sentences and punishment in the Reagan years and it’s never changed since. > > I see the need for punishment. It just bothers me that the only reason this guy was caught is the modern computer systems. Up until the 1950’s you could still create a new life for yourself. If you stayed out of trouble then the chances of every getting caught were almost zero. > > I recall about fifteen years ago they caught a fugitive in Washington DC. He had driven a limo for over thirty years using his brothers name. Lots of important politicians had ridden in this guys limo. He had committed some pretty serious crimes when he was young. But had lead a very upstanding life for all those other years. I can’t recall whatever happened to him. He was pretty old when they discovered his past. > > I keep saying this guy created a new life for himself. Others say he was hiding. Interesting… Well, the thing is it’s irrelevant that he would be paroled at his 15 year mark. Parole boards look at how long _you have served_, he wasn’t going to be paroled at the 7 year mark–he decided to leave prison via escape at that point. He still owes at minimum 8 more years. Why does it matter that he created a new life for himself? If we, as a society, are going to allow people who **steal for all time** the one life that their victim had to live, a life of their own to live outside of prison it is going to be on _our terms_, meaning when our criminal justice system says they get to start their lives again–not when they feel like breaking out of prison. I definitely think rehabilitation is important, but don’t throw the entire concept of justice out the window. For society to function I do think people need to be fairly punished for doing bad things, it’s not a matter of “deterrence”, it’s a matter of the state providing equitable justice for its people. ---
**Author:** ![Oakminster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/77aa72/32.png) [@Oakminster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oakminster)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2011, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-there-be-a-reasonable-time-limit-for-capturing-fugitives/598272/22 "2011-10-02T02:19:11Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > This man was given a 15- to 30-year sentence for murder in 1962. He probably would have been paroled by 1977. Certainly by 1982 he would be out. > > He’s been in his own personal prison since escaping in 1970. Always looking over his shoulder. Forty-one years of fear and regret for the past. > > I think he’s punished himself far more than society would have. You ignore the fact that escaping from prison is a separate crime, for which he’s served no punishment. ---
**Author:** ![Doug\_K](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b5ac83/32.png) [@Doug\_K](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doug_K)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2011, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-there-be-a-reasonable-time-limit-for-capturing-fugitives/598272/23 "2011-10-02T02:27:30Z")
His criminal behavior is not all in the past. Breaking out of prison was the start of a continuous criminal act that won’t end until he’s back in prison to finish his sentence. ---
**Author:** ![Capitaine\_Zombie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e95f7d/32.png) [@Capitaine\_Zombie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capitaine_Zombie)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2011, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-there-be-a-reasonable-time-limit-for-capturing-fugitives/598272/24 "2011-10-02T02:42:25Z")
> [@Martin\_Hyde](#): > > It still seems you don’t get what I’m saying. > > From what I’m reading prescription sounds just like our Statute of Limitations–it is a limit on how long the government has to charge someone for a crime. The criminal in the case that is the subject of this thread had already been arrested, tried, and sent to prison. He had spent 7 years in prison and then escaped, in our system he isn’t retried when he is captured, he has already been tried, instead he is being put back to serve his original sentence. I had understood your question but I thought you wanted the general principle. In case of a prison escape after a conviction: You can get the rest of the time you served _prescribed_. The _prescription_ countdown starts the day of the escape. It’s usually twenty years for criminal matters, 5 years for lesser offences (hard to transcribe directly into US law terms but for your question that’s good enough). The time you’ve already served gets substracted from the _prescription_ “tariffs” above. IIRC. ---
**Author:** ![Terraplane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/74df32/32.png) [@Terraplane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terraplane)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2011, 5:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-there-be-a-reasonable-time-limit-for-capturing-fugitives/598272/25 "2011-10-02T05:40:32Z")
I’m extremely liberal and I think there are very few people in this world who are beyond redemption. But if you take a life you need to face that. You say he’s lived with 41 years of regret but I didn’t see a single thing in the article about regret. For all I know he’s had 41 years of gleeful internal gloating about getting away with murder. Prison should mainly be about rehabilitation, and on that matter I would think he is rehabilitated simply because he doesn’t seem to be terribly murderous anymore. But there must be some level of punishment as well, otherwise I think the message you send is that if you’re good at hiding you get to commit one free murder in your life. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2011, 6:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-there-be-a-reasonable-time-limit-for-capturing-fugitives/598272/26 "2011-10-02T06:04:13Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > Very interesting comments so far. I was curious to gauge the current feelings about crime. This message board is one of the more liberal ones I visit and it’s interesting to hear from the Left. I “know” what the Tea Party folks would do to this guy. They’d throw him in prison until he dies. 😉 > > I grew up in the 70’s and at that time Prison Reform and Rehabilitation were huge social issues. That’s why I said this guy would have been paroled by his fifteen year mark. It’s was a different time and attitude about crime. The pendulum swung towards harsher sentences and punishment in the Reagan years and it’s never changed since. > > I see the need for punishment. It just bothers me that the only reason this guy was caught is the modern computer systems. Up until the 1950’s you could still create a new life for yourself. If you stayed out of trouble then the chances of every getting caught were almost zero. > > I recall about fifteen years ago they caught a fugitive in Washington DC. He had driven a limo for over thirty years using his brothers name. Lots of important politicians had ridden in this guys limo. He had committed some pretty serious crimes when he was young. But had lead a very upstanding life for all those other years. I can’t recall whatever happened to him. He was pretty old when they discovered his past. > > I keep saying this guy created a new life for himself. Others say he was hiding. Interesting… I understand what you are saying. It’s problematic to deal with. There has been a romantic notion that people commit crimes in bad situations, run away and build new lives, and that should be considered if they are eventually apprehended. I’m sure that happens sometimes. But it still won’t satisfy many people that justice has been served if the person is not punished. And just because a person has not been convicted of any more crimes, doesn’t mean they are rehabilitated or have atoned at all. But it is a modern world problem. Catching a person who fled and lived a simple life with a new identity would have been very difficult to do until recently. In the past there must have been many people who did turn over a new leaf after recognizing their good fortune in escaping punishment. Now they will tend to be driven by the fear of discovery. There may also be more people now who do not believe in redemption. We are increasingly adopting an eye-for-an-eye attitude toward justice, even as we increasingly see that matters of justice are hazy, discovering the truth is never certain, and justice is not as blind as we would like it to be for ourselves. ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2011, 8:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-there-be-a-reasonable-time-limit-for-capturing-fugitives/598272/27 "2011-10-02T08:32:57Z")
Its not a “yes or no question”. It is a question of “whether its in the public interest” or not. That will depend on the circumstances of each case. I suspect that it is in the public interest in Mr Wright’s case, while certainly not in [this](http://www.mlive.com/news/saginaw/index.ssf/2011/04/marie_walsh_also_known_as_susa.html) case. ---
**Author:** ![UltraVires](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecccb3/32.png) [@UltraVires](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UltraVires)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2011, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-there-be-a-reasonable-time-limit-for-capturing-fugitives/598272/28 "2011-10-03T04:24:15Z")
Why should a person be rewarded for fleeing from justice? ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2011, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-there-be-a-reasonable-time-limit-for-capturing-fugitives/598272/29 "2011-10-03T04:29:02Z")
> [@jtgain](#): > > Why should a person be rewarded for fleeing from justice? Who said they should? ---
**Author:** ![Blackberry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ecd19e/32.png) [@Blackberry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blackberry)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2011, 6:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-there-be-a-reasonable-time-limit-for-capturing-fugitives/598272/30 "2011-10-03T06:18:19Z")
> [@msmith537](#): > > There is. It’s called “statute of limitations”. It doesn’t apply to murder and other heinous crimes for obvious reasons. > > You don’t get a free pass from paying your debt to society just because you are good at hiding. I don’t completely disagree, but I hate the phrase “paying your debt to society” when it means time in prison (as opposed to something like community service that does actually benefit society). It especially doesn’t make sense to use the phrase regarding someone who has been living as a contributing member of society, but will then become a drain on society if imprisoned. ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2011, 7:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-there-be-a-reasonable-time-limit-for-capturing-fugitives/598272/31 "2011-10-03T07:48:15Z")
It really depends on the crime, and who was affected by it. In some cases, the effect of the crime will be minor, and will wear off in time. In other cases, the crime disrupts people’s lives to a great extent, and there should be no statute of limitations in effect. ---
**Author:** ![PandaBear77](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/edb3f5/32.png) [@PandaBear77](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PandaBear77)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2011, 9:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-there-be-a-reasonable-time-limit-for-capturing-fugitives/598272/32 "2011-10-03T09:39:45Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > The most recent case is George Wright. He would have finished his prison sentence decades ago. Reading the article, the man has lived a very good life in Portugal. Raised a family, held multiple jobs. His criminal behavior is all in the past. What’s the point in dragging him back to America and putting him in prison? A 68 year old man that will die anyway in another ten or so years. I daresay the family of the man he killed could give a rat’s ass about how “good” of a life this man has led. The point of dragging him back to America and putting him back in prison is to show that you don’t get to break out of prison and get away with it just because you happen to be bright enough to do it. He may very well die in the next 10 years. So what? > [@](#): > > This guy’s last crimes were forty years ago. His victim’s still dead. This guy shoulda served his sentence. He chose to escape. He has a nice life and family now? Too fucking bad. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-there-be-a-reasonable-time-limit-for-capturing-fugitives/598272.md?page=1)