Last night, one of our police officers was shot and killed while attempting to stop an armed robbery.  The officer left behind a wife and two children. If his murderer is caught, he will be sentenced to death or spend a lot of time in prison. But no, that’s not where the story ends. Because in this state, as well as others, we never really hold people accountable for their crimes or do we enforce the sentences properly.  

Although we have the third-largest death row in the US, we have only put one person to death in the past ten years or so.  That person also volunteered to be executed. You see, because of the appeals process which affords convicted criminals multiple layers of review, the murderer will most likely die in prison or even get paroled.  Our broken system gives criminals more rights than the victims of crime. Our city mourns the loss of one of its own today.