{"id":61936,"date":"2009-12-03T16:51:18","date_gmt":"2009-12-03T21:51:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/seattletimes.nwsource.com\/html\/northwestvoices\/2010418317_mikehuckabeeandthecriminaljusticesystem.html?syndication=rss"},"modified":"2009-12-03T16:51:18","modified_gmt":"2009-12-03T21:51:18","slug":"mike-huckabee-and-the-criminal-justice-system","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/61936","title":{"rendered":"Mike Huckabee and the criminal-justice system"},"content":{"rendered":"

Released prisoners should shack up with the parole board<\/strong><\/p>\n

The tragic death of four Lakewood police officers is exacerbated by the early release of the alleged murderer [\u201cPersuasive appeal helped Clemmons win clemency,\u201d News, Dec. 1].<\/p>\n

Doubtless some prisoners truly rue their crimes, and are ready to rejoin society.<\/p>\n

But let\u2019s envision a system where parole board members take direct responsibility for any person to whom they give early release. Let\u2019s have the released prisoner live in a parole board member\u2019s home for the first month.<\/p>\n

Would a parole board member with children be willing to have a released pedophile or rapist living in their home? Let them visibly demonstrate their belief in the reformation of a prisoner. If not, then why are these boards releasing such people early to prey on society again?<\/p>\n

And let\u2019s not forget defense lawyers through a similar program. If their client gets off on a serious charge, let the client live in the lawyer\u2019s house for a while. We might see the conviction rate of dangerous people increase, instead of them getting off on legal technicalities dredged up by the defense.<\/p>\n

\u2014 Roel Hurkens, Victoria, B.C.<\/em><\/p>\n

Voters should hold local judge accountable<\/strong><\/p>\n

While I think former Gov. Mike Huckabee should be held accountable, what about the local judge who overruled another judge\u2019s determination not to grant bail and granted Maurice Clemmons the ability to go out and murder [\u201cPerson of interest let out of Pierce County Jail one week ago,\u201d page one, Nov. 30]?<\/p>\n

The state judiciary is allowed to hide behind sentencing guidelines instead of them determining the sentencing, thus making them accountable to no one. Here is a perfect example of why they should be held accountable. The decision this judge made had serious consequences to the detriment of four officers, their families and their community.<\/p>\n

Who will hold them accountable? The voters. The voters should know who this judge is so if the electorate chooses, he can be fired.<\/p>\n

There was every reason to deny bail to Clemmons: He was a three-striker, he demonstrated violence toward police and family members (i.e. sexual assault) and he had violent and unpredictable outbursts.<\/p>\n

Arkansas blew it and the Washington state judiciary system blew it.<\/p>\n

\u2014 Sam Granato, Yakima<\/em><\/p>\n

Blame resides right here, in Washington state<\/strong><\/p>\n

Let\u2019s talk about the Washington criminal-justice system, or the lack of it.<\/p>\n

I am shocked The Seattle Times is talking more about the Arkansas parole granted to Maurice Clemmons than it is about Washington state\u2019s failures. He was released from custody here just days ago.<\/p>\n

He was released from custody here despite an outstanding fugitive felony warrant from Arkansas. He was released from custody here despite seven additional felony charges in Washington state. He was facing a child-rape charge committed against a 12-year-old relative. He was facing a life sentence in this state\u2019s three-strikes law if convicted of the child-rape charge.<\/p>\n

Why is our state granting bail to a person charged with child rape? Who was the judge who granted this bail after it was previously denied by another judge?<\/p>\n

The ultimate blame here is not with Arkansas or former Gov. Mike Huckabee. It is with our own Washington state judicial system. Let\u2019s place the blame where it belongs. Clemmons was being held in our system on eight felony charges.<\/p>\n

\u2014 Ronald Czarnecki, Everett<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Released prisoners should shack up with the parole board The tragic death of four Lakewood police officers is exacerbated by the early release of the alleged murderer [\u201cPersuasive appeal helped Clemmons win clemency,\u201d News, Dec. 1]. Doubtless some prisoners truly rue their crimes, and are ready to rejoin society. But let\u2019s envision a system where […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-61936","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61936","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=61936"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61936\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=61936"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=61936"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=61936"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}