07 March 2006

Morrissey on Parole For Juveniles.

I am saddened that Mitch Morrissey, Denver's District Attorney and a Democrat, felt compelled to write a letter to the editor of the Denver Post decrying HB 1315 which would allow parole for juveniles initially sentenced to life without parole, after serving 40 years in prison, under an excessive Colorado law that allowed juveniles to be prosecuted as adults without court involvement.

It isn't pro-crime or anti-victim, to recognizing that a messed up kid who commits a horrible crime at age 14, is not the same person at age 54. The DAs job is to do justice and protect public safety. But, eschewing any possibility of redemption for a teenager isn't necessarily something that flows from that job desription. Democrats, in particular, are expected to have a more balanced sense of right and wrong than Morrissey has displayed. (Needless to say, I voted for one of the other candidates in 2004).

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