A simple, straightforward question in the wake of Patrick Burris's forced resignation from his chosen profession:
What is a "career criminal" doing on the outside?
The 41-year-old man had a criminal record that spanned two dozen typed pages. And yet, he was free to stalk and kill five innocent people in Gaffney, S.C., until being shot to death himself by police investigating a burglary in nearby Gastonia, N.C.
"At some point," says State Law Enforcement Division Chief Reggie Lloyd, "the criminal justice system is going to need to explain why this suspect was out on the street."
How about now?
Apparently, Burris was paroled from a North Carolina prison just a couple months before his killing spree terrorized a South Carolina town and stunned the Palmetto State.
How could the system have not seen that this guy was a career criminal?
And remember, his rap sheet is only those crimes which law enforcement knows about. There may indeed be other killings in this monster's past.
A peach farmer; an 83-year-old woman and her daughter; and a father and daughter at the family furniture store. All were killed by a man the government knew for years was dangerous.
The courts and corrections system are complicit in those murders.
A number of years ago, the country went on a binge of cracking down on repeat offenders, with such things as "three strikes and you're out" laws: after the third felony, you're in prison for life.
That was over-simplistic, and ended up in a few horror stories of people facing life in prison for relatively low-grade felonies.
But perhaps the pendulum has swung too far in the other direction. When a repeat robber, burglar and thief like Patrick Burris is allowed to prowl the streets with a 25-page rap sheet stuck to the bottom of his shoe like toilet paper, then you know society is getting it wrong.
Our various legislatures spend up to half the year yakking it up, and can't seem to figure this sort of thing out.
If lawmakers in South Carolina, Georgia, North Carolina and other states do nothing else in their next legislative session, they had better find a way to protect the public better than they are now.
It's not rocket science. Lawmakers need to agree on a definition of a career criminal, using whatever factors they choose. Once the threshold they have chosen has been met -- number of years involved, number of crimes, number of convictions, number of addresses in their address book, whatever -- then the person needs to be put in prison for life, no parole.
The system, and the lawmakers who preside over it, simply must accept that parole does not work in many cases.
Among the crimes Burris was serving time for in North Carolina before his parole: being a habitual felon.
Surprised? We thought not.
So why are officials surprised that when they release "habitual" offenders, they get more offenses?
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True, society has got it wrong but not in the way you state. God set up governments to reward the doers of good and punish the doers of evil. Today, we do not need God. We have come to believe the lie that "We are our own god." And believing such, we think it's better to rehabilitate an evil doer than punish him. And the result of that thinking can be seen today, as this nation mourns a pedophile. We are calling evil good and good evil. This society has got it wrong alright, but it's by rejecting God's word.
Following the Associated Press Stylebook and Libel Manual, AP style, shouldn't the possessive of the proper name, Burris, ending in "s" be formed by adding an apostrophe only without the extra s? This is such an emotionally charged event that we will be innundated with a gazillion posts saying his body should be chewed up, placed in tar and spread over the highways or something.
I believe that a good part of the issue is that taxpayers want the protection from criminals, but don't want to pay for their continued incarceration. There is only one solution for it, and that is to be willing to pay the taxes required to fund te prisons. We cannot have services if we are unwilling to pay for them. This is the main reason that California is in such trouble. They demand services, and then pass laws lowering their taxes. We are getting what we pay for, people.
As long as is a white felon it would be ok, but if it applied to a minority we would have hell to pay.
Here is the problem: The release authority looked at his record, then asked him, "will U ever hurt anyone else" and he said "no" and he qualified for release. But look at that release board and there is probably one minority and he/she is only there to give "yes" answers. What is the racial makeup of those inmates released and the answer is clear: Drug dealers (non-violent, mostly minority) are kept while violent killers (non-minority) are released based on racial issues. A complete review is required but Mr Lloyd better quickly get a court order of parole documents, cause those shreders are probably in high gear.
The problem is that convicted felons have "rights" after they are found guilty. What about the rights of their victims? Priorities of this society are all screwed up. Yes it costs a lot to incarcerate someone and it's all because we are worried that no one tramples their rights. Hell, inmates have a better health plan than some of us out here who pay for ours. And when they don't like the way they are treated, they sue which most of the time is bogus and thrown out but you are still paying for that legal team to defend the jail and prison officials. Then there is "rehabilitation". This society has never rehabilitated anyone in jail or prison. All we can do is provide the means to rehabilitation but the individual has to rehabilitate themselves and most of them don't.
The politically correct approach to incarceration is that anyone can change and everyone wants to be better. The reality is that this attitude is wrong. In this dark period of American history, the politically correct control the press and therefore the minds of the dumb masses. Nothing will improve until responsibility and accountability become part of the social foundation, once again.
"This society has got it wrong alright, but it's by rejecting God's word.
Posted by KingoftheUSA on Wed Jul 8, 2009 2:22 AM" And if you will note: That God only prescribed two punishments - restitution or death. Maybe we should check that out.
It sickens me that Men like this are allowed to be free. It was obvious prior to the killing spree, he was a threat to society. The federal and state prison system does not want career criminals given life sentences. Since, the lifers only become more violent with in the prison system. I don't expect the state or federal legislators to take any action. The legislators are more concerned with taking care of the special interest and we are not it.
This is a symptom of democracy and a free society. I guess we could be like Iran and lock people up forever. Or. China where those convicted have no rights or appeals. Once we start using religion as a basis of Justice, we then begin to use religion as a means to arrest and convict. Isn't that extreme fundamentalism, of which we despise of Hamas and the Taliban?
GAC, i dont think anyone complaining about spending is concerned about their tax dollars going towards law enforcement and other first responder services.
The religion of no responsibility and no accountability is the worst kind of fundamentalism.
GACopperhead got it exactly right. Bigger jails cost money. You get what you pay for. By the way, even though the jerk had a huge list of convictions, they were for non-violent crimes. The way to make room for the violent criminals is to let the non-violent criminals out. This time, the "non-violent" criminal turned out to be a serial killer.
A national crime offender registry should be mandated by Congress. It would be in the mold of the sex offender registry. Also, a victim shield law should be passed by Washington that would prevent the release of the identity of murder victims, because had Burris been arrested instead of shot and killed by Gaston County Sheriff's deputies, there would be no doubt that Mr. Burris would have engaged in relentless witness intimidation.
I don't think he is white....................
Copperhead nailed it.
I don't think he is white....................
Posted by ladyjanegrey on Wed Jul 8, 2009 8:32 AM I think he tanned himself while in he was in jail.
As a habitual offender prison time is usually 25 yrs or over, so why was this guy on the loose. Same for the three strikes law. Some criminals were being handed heavy sentence such as a petty criminal in Cal whom had exactly three charges aganst him, one resulting in 30 days in jail one probation and his third for stealing a gulf club which got him a 25 year sentence. The thing is the three strikes law used to be set in stone but now the judges can make the sentence fit the crime.
Lady you are so transparent.
Judging from his size, Burris probably had an extra 'y' chromosome, which is associated with psychopathic behavior due to excess testosterone. He needed to be castrated.
lol....
Well there you go. According to JUSTUS, it's all a racial discrimination problem. Just keep the white inmates locked up and release the black ones and all will be well in the universe! Why is it that life in prison doesn't mean life in prison anymore? If we can't execute these dirtbags, why can't we keep them locked up for the rest of their lives and give our taxpayers a little peace of mind? Let lottery money pay part of the expense of building new prisons. And make the prisoners do work to at least help pay for their incarceration instead of letting them lift weights and watch tv all day.
Take the money out of the public assistance programs and put it into the prison building programs. Much of both pots of money are spent on the same people so we just need to "redistribute the wealth". Career criminals come in all colors but, odds are, they have been on public assistance for much of their lives. Unfortunately this guy, who was a habitual criminal, may have figured out that he kept going to jail because of witnesses. He may have made the decicison to try not to leave anyone alive to identify and testify against him. With the bad economy and growing crime rate this might be a trend. Get a gun, learn to use it, get a permit, and keep the gun it where you can get to it. Don't trust any stranger that knocks on your door, pulls into your driveway, approaches your car at an intersection, at an ATM, or in a parking lot, or approaches you while walking in a parking lot. Shoot at the first sign of a threat. Remember the words "I feared for my life". Even if they don't believe you it's better to be a live defendant than a dead victim.
Amen Max!
Tents and barbed wire with a few guards is a lot less espensive than building jials/prisons. It works for sheriff Arpio in Arizona, so why not everywhere else? Chain gangs are were a damn good source of labor to clean up roads and ditches.
I agree Jack, Bring Back Chain Gangs!! And then if they run like old Cool Hand Luke, Drop em like they are Hot, with just one Shot!
Southern@9:39-That sounds like a good idea to let the lottery pay some toward building& maintaining the prisons.
Thanks Tots...but I say make the prisoners work and help pay some of their costs as well. You make it bad enough in prison, they'll stay out of trouble.
Southern@1:41-I'm totally for the chain gang& making them work for their upkeep.They used to have those things.But I think alot of the programs were stopped because of corrupt people.I myself have seen the prisoners cleaning private property.Unless the county owns that empty house on the road to Sego Middle School.
I'm glad the Gaston County Police caught and killed the Gaffney serial killer. I'm abhorred that the NC Dept of Corrections paroled a 20 year career felony criminal. I hope someone holds the judges, DAs, parole board, and the entire failed justice system accountable for their actions. Will the liberals ever learn that rehabilitation of repeat violent criminals is a farce, that 3rd, 4th, and 5th chances need not ever be granted, and that prompt capital punishment of repeat felons is long overdue?
Thank overcrowed prisons for alot of this happening. The majority get out and continue to commit crimes, maybe not all become killers but they continue their criminal ways.. He is gone and got what he deserves, perhaps the same will happen to the ones that follow in his footsteps, one less one to look over your shoulder for.