Sentencing "reform" advocates insist that we should go lighter on sentencing in the name of the distinctly American virtue of "giving people a second chance."
The phrase itself reveals the confusion posing as thought that lies behind this movement. A person has a "second chance" whether his sentence is 78 months or 96 months. He has a "second chance" whether it's 16 years or 18 years. The question in either case is not whether he'll get a "second chance" under sentencing reform he would otherwise miss; the question is what he does with it, reform or not.
This story gives part of the answer. When I read it, I asked the same question I frequently do: When early release goes wrong, as it so often does, who pays the price? The sentencing reform crowd at their posh, self-congratulatory, "we-are-so-humane" parties in Manhattan and Hollywood, or the next unsuspecting victim they helped set up?
A convicted murderer in Michigan, who was paroled early for good behavior after serving 19 years in jail, reportedly killed again less than one year after his release.
Malcolm B. Benson, 50, was serving a 20- to 40-year prison sentence as part of a plea deal he made in 1995, MLive reports. He was initially charged with first-degree murder but the plea deal reduced the charge to second-degree murder. He was also found guilty of felony use of a firearm, which added an additional two years to his sentence.
Benson was paroled on Jan. 13, 2015, after spending just over 19 years of his minimum 22-year sentence in prison.
Like Wendell Callahan's victims, Benson's victim would be alive today if he had been required to serve even the minimum of his term.
Many if not most criminals have rec’d numerous second chances before they were ever sent to prison.
Get with the times, people.
According to the Obama Administration, they are no longer "criminals" or "felons" or "murderers."
They are "justice involved youth" and "justice involved individuals."
https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/departments-justice-and-housing-and-urban-development-award-175-million-help-justice-involved
https://www.justice.gov/opa/speech/attorney-general-loretta-e-lynch-delivers-remarks-white-house-champions-change-expanding