Every now and then, people read a story and find significant a detail I find to be insignificant. This is one of those times. In this case, Maurice Clemmons stands accused of murdering four police officers in Washington, and the fact I find to be insignificant is that nine years ago he was granted clemency by then governor of Arkansas Mike Huckabee. The significant detail to me was that:
He was released from custody just six days ago, even though [sic] was staring at seven additional felony charges in Washington state.
The State of Washington felt $150,000 was adequate (in real terms to Clemmons, this meant $15,000) to secure their interests and the security of its people. However we are to believe that Mike Huckabee is to bear the burden for this act by granting clemency after a decade to a person who committed his crimes when he was just 17.
Now there are people that will claim Clemmons wouldn’t have committed his act if Huckabee hadn’t granted the clemency that gave him his release from prison. As I noted above, you could make the same case for the granting him of bail. What this doesn’t take into consideration is all the men that have been released from prison, even as a result of clemency, that have gone on to live uneventful lives. The recidivism rate is no where close to approaching 100%. Over a three-year period you can expect anywhere between a third and two-thirds of released prisoners to commit a crime. Of those, a minority are sent back to prison. I would claim that one would have to commit to a very large prison population if we were to lock away all violent offenders for many decades, but I’m afraid we have been all too willing to test that hypothesis. With 5% of the world’s population, we have 25% of the world’s prison population.
Such isn’t to claim nothing could be done. From reading the story, I think it is clear Clemmons had real mental health issues. In the name of civil liberties, we have neutered the ability of courts to commit people that need treatment. Additionally, the whole idea of allowing release pending trial or sentencing when a person has shown violence and is looking at a decade or more of prison time should be re-examined. Clemency and pardon have been a part of our system for a long time, and they have allowed much good to flourish.
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