Lenient sentencing leads to trouble

“I’m not going back to prison” and “I hate cops!” These two expressions all to often represent the mindsets of desperate felons toward America’s police officers, the ones tasked with constantly re-arresting them because our legal system has no spine. Between our judges. parole boards and state leaders, the most dangerous and heinous criminals in America are subject to being paroled or having their sentences commuted at any given time; something which has been going on for decades. Example: June, 1961 — Richard Marquette rapes and dismembers a young woman in Oregon. He is sentenced to life in prison. He is released as a model prisoner in 1973 and kills two more women.

Does this lenient sentencing make sense and does anyone see a continuing problem here, especially as it relates to the killing of four Lakewood police officers by Maurice Clemmens in 2009? This was after then Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee commuted his sentence. Why does our criminal justice system continue to recycle these dangerous people back onto the public? Why do we continue warehousing the worse versions of humanity, simply because leaders like Jay Inslee refuse to have them executed?

Furthermore, why are there so many issues with sentencing guidelines and lawyers who beg for these felon’s lives? Lastly,why must the men and women who are sworn to protect us, forced to deal with these criminals again and again because our legal system lacks a backbone? Our officers and the public deserve more.

This story was originally published January 19, 2017 at 6:22 PM with the headline "Lenient sentencing leads to trouble."