http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/12/21/florida.fugitive.captured/index.html?eref=igoogle_cnn Let's say, for the sake of argument, the 30 years this guy was on the lam he kept his nose straight. If you were the judge, would you accept the fact he's no longer a criminal and let him go free as the prisons are so crowded and make space for more recent offenders? Or, since he escaped after serving only 2 of 10 years, send him back to prison as both a deterrent to others as well as justice for his crimes? All this taking into account he never shot anyone (I am certain some people were deeply terrified and traumatized). Were I the judge, and the above all true, I think I'd be inclined to show some leniency.
Go directly to jail. Do not pass go, do not collect $200. He had a debt to society which he hasn't paid. Time to pay.
I can't open the link but my thought is if this guy escapes and then comes back later in life and nothing happens to him . . . in fact he doesn't even have to do the original time, wouldn't that encourage more people to try and escape. If I get a DUI . . .can I run from the courts for 10 years and later come back saying I've been good so would you drop the DUI I ran from?
Maybe. But this was 30 years, and if has lived a clean life since it just seemed to me that since he already served a part of his sentence and there are some bad people being let out of overcrowded that he may have earned some grace.
Let's say I borrow 500$ from you. I tell you I'll pay you back by February. I don't see you for 15 years, does that mean I don't owe you 500$ (plus interest)?
An easier solution would be to kill him. That way, nobody is let out of jail to make room for him. He's already made it clear he doesn't want to serve his sentence, so it's obvious he's not rehabilitated or remorseful. There is no shortage of good people in the world, just an excess of bad people.
