Many parts of the country are now in a headlong rush to spring as many criminals as their advocates think they can get away with. The proposals are becoming so extreme that they are raising alarms in places that don't often challenge the "progressive" agenda. The Sunday WaPo has this editorial:
Residents of the District of Columbia deserve protection from the most violent criminals and to be confident those offenders receive prison sentences commensurate with the gravity of their crimes. A bill pending in the D.C. Council would undermine that expectation and subject residents to unwarranted risks from convicted murderers, rapists and child sex abusers.
The legislation would directly benefit the most serious and violent criminals -- specifically, those who killed, raped or committed sexual abuse before reaching age 25 -- by making them eligible for release, or a reduced sentence, while still in their 30s.
It's important to be clear about the implication of the pending legislation, sponsored by D.C. Council member Charles Allen (D-Ward 6): Under the bill, if the gunmen who massacred innocent people in El Paso and Dayton, Ohio, this month had instead committed their crimes in the District -- and had both survived -- one would be eligible for release or reduced sentence at age 36, at a judge's discretion; the other at age 39.
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