This poor girl is most likely dead/ I wrote this a while back, but never sent it in. I was incredibly aggravated at all of this. And shocked that people still kidnap others.
Dear Editor,
As a Minnesota native displaced to Chicago for the last five years, raw, violent, and calculated crime is a part of the environment I live in at a much higher volume than when I resided in Minnesota. Even while in the heart of the Twin Cities, never did I see much that compared to the most crime infested areas of Chicago, or even the more gentrified areas which still fall victim to brutal assaults periodically (i.e. the Lincoln Park and Wicker Park rapists, both from this past summer).
However, as an Illinois resident, I was also a first hand spectator and cheerleader of former Illinois Governor George H. Ryan’s moratorium on the death penalty. Startled by the recent comments by Governor Tim Pawlenty, or should I say, “off hand mentions which are merely planting the seed for a public policy he was in the minority of voting for while a legislator, twice” prompted me to reply, as a dissenting voice on the Pawlenty capitalization of this current tragedy (Dru Sjodin abduction) which, as US citizens, we have seen also in a certain administration funneling more troops and US dollars into Iraq, all spun off our initial outrage post 9/11.
Some background on the Illinois moratorium and why former Governor Ryan enacted what he did:
Former Governor Ryan stated that the Illinois capital system was “haunted by the demon of error: error in determining guilt, and error in determining who among the guilty deserves to die. Because of all of these reasons today I am commuting the sentences of all death-row inmates.”
Due to this statement, which followed a near two year investigation which included Ryan appointed attorney and writer Scott Turow, a former capital punishment supporter turned opposer, 163 men and four women on the Illinois death row were spared.
Former Gov. Ryan also cited former Chicago detective Jon Burge, who extracted confessions from suspects turned "guilty" criminals through brutal and invalid means. Burge, who was known to use electric cattle prods, suffocation, and beatings to get suspects to admit to crimes they may not have committed, was fired about a decade ago, following a police internal investigation which found it plausible that he supervised the systematic torture of suspects, while under questioning. Unfortunately, this is a situation that could, and probably has, happened everywhere. No one doubts the incredibly difficult nature that the police have in attaining perpetrators for all of the atrocious and miscellany crimes committed, but here is an instance where someone in a position of much power and control fell apart under pressure, taking even more innocent lives with him, while leaving the true criminals at large.
Among the other facts including the evidence mentioned above, which the panel found while investigating the so-called justification and effectiveness of capital punishment, Ryan called for the moratorium, and Illinois was left with less blood on its hands.
Minnesota has been wise in avoiding capital punishment thus far, and its residents should tread carefully. The true issue here is, yes, the safe return of Dru Sjodin, as well as the correct capture of the individual responsible for this heinous crime. But as Minnesotans, who indirectly took part in Rodriguez’s ability to carry out this crime (it was, remember, part of our legal and judicial system which allowed Rodriguez, a registered Level 3 sex offender--the level associated with the highest likelihood to commit again--to be released from prison, without any type of supervision post release), we must look towards the legal system that in some ways—although not completely—enabled him to possibly carry out another crime. Perhaps we should take this opportunity to look at an already flawed system instead of giving it more opportunity for even graver injustices.
The bottom line is that unfortunately, we don’t know for absolutely certain that Rodriguez is the right person, although it appears highly probable that he is the perpetrator. And although the outrage, the high “kill the bastard” morale and the rightful shock from both family and community members may be unparalleled in recent Minnesota history, neither fact completely erases this dillemma: what if police have the wrong suspect? And what if he died, for a crime he didn’t commit, regardless of his egregious past? And what if we let this be the start of many more, possible, wrongful deaths, via the clearly flawed capital punishment system, as illustrated by our midwestern counterpart, Illinois?
Minnesota ought to steer clear of even letting the Pawlenty capital punishment seed take root, and should emphasize that legislators look towards a revamping of the system and not an addition to it, one of even more risk and gamble. Besides, if capital punishment deterred capital crime, we would have a much stronger case in favor of it, but on the contrary, the evidence collected thus far indicates it has no effect on the murder rate. Of course, while there may be instances where the death penalty is necessary, in certain societies or governments, possibly due to a lack of facilities to treat and correct criminals-to protect them from harming outside civilians, by keeping them in institutions such as prisons and hospitals-then we would have a different situation. However, in the US, Minnesota particularly, we’re just simply not one of those societies.
I am sure that I speak for everyone around the nation praying for Dru Sjodin’s safe return, along with the absolute capture of her assailant. And if it is Rodriguez, then it is without a doubt that he should receive the highest penalty Minnesota/North Dakota has to offer, ALONG WITH a careful reevaluation of the judicial and correctional system, which put Rodriguez back on the street, a grave err which hopefully has NOT caused the death or harm of another innocent woman. However, in the bigger picture of this outrageous crime, we must not ignore this stadium sized red flag to Minnesota voters and legislators, not in terms of the possible instillation of capital punishment, but in terms of a more closer look at the means to which these criminals are working their way back onto society’s streets, dangerously.
Dear Editor,
As a Minnesota native displaced to Chicago for the last five years, raw, violent, and calculated crime is a part of the environment I live in at a much higher volume than when I resided in Minnesota. Even while in the heart of the Twin Cities, never did I see much that compared to the most crime infested areas of Chicago, or even the more gentrified areas which still fall victim to brutal assaults periodically (i.e. the Lincoln Park and Wicker Park rapists, both from this past summer).
However, as an Illinois resident, I was also a first hand spectator and cheerleader of former Illinois Governor George H. Ryan’s moratorium on the death penalty. Startled by the recent comments by Governor Tim Pawlenty, or should I say, “off hand mentions which are merely planting the seed for a public policy he was in the minority of voting for while a legislator, twice” prompted me to reply, as a dissenting voice on the Pawlenty capitalization of this current tragedy (Dru Sjodin abduction) which, as US citizens, we have seen also in a certain administration funneling more troops and US dollars into Iraq, all spun off our initial outrage post 9/11.
Some background on the Illinois moratorium and why former Governor Ryan enacted what he did:
Former Governor Ryan stated that the Illinois capital system was “haunted by the demon of error: error in determining guilt, and error in determining who among the guilty deserves to die. Because of all of these reasons today I am commuting the sentences of all death-row inmates.”
Due to this statement, which followed a near two year investigation which included Ryan appointed attorney and writer Scott Turow, a former capital punishment supporter turned opposer, 163 men and four women on the Illinois death row were spared.
Former Gov. Ryan also cited former Chicago detective Jon Burge, who extracted confessions from suspects turned "guilty" criminals through brutal and invalid means. Burge, who was known to use electric cattle prods, suffocation, and beatings to get suspects to admit to crimes they may not have committed, was fired about a decade ago, following a police internal investigation which found it plausible that he supervised the systematic torture of suspects, while under questioning. Unfortunately, this is a situation that could, and probably has, happened everywhere. No one doubts the incredibly difficult nature that the police have in attaining perpetrators for all of the atrocious and miscellany crimes committed, but here is an instance where someone in a position of much power and control fell apart under pressure, taking even more innocent lives with him, while leaving the true criminals at large.
Among the other facts including the evidence mentioned above, which the panel found while investigating the so-called justification and effectiveness of capital punishment, Ryan called for the moratorium, and Illinois was left with less blood on its hands.
Minnesota has been wise in avoiding capital punishment thus far, and its residents should tread carefully. The true issue here is, yes, the safe return of Dru Sjodin, as well as the correct capture of the individual responsible for this heinous crime. But as Minnesotans, who indirectly took part in Rodriguez’s ability to carry out this crime (it was, remember, part of our legal and judicial system which allowed Rodriguez, a registered Level 3 sex offender--the level associated with the highest likelihood to commit again--to be released from prison, without any type of supervision post release), we must look towards the legal system that in some ways—although not completely—enabled him to possibly carry out another crime. Perhaps we should take this opportunity to look at an already flawed system instead of giving it more opportunity for even graver injustices.
The bottom line is that unfortunately, we don’t know for absolutely certain that Rodriguez is the right person, although it appears highly probable that he is the perpetrator. And although the outrage, the high “kill the bastard” morale and the rightful shock from both family and community members may be unparalleled in recent Minnesota history, neither fact completely erases this dillemma: what if police have the wrong suspect? And what if he died, for a crime he didn’t commit, regardless of his egregious past? And what if we let this be the start of many more, possible, wrongful deaths, via the clearly flawed capital punishment system, as illustrated by our midwestern counterpart, Illinois?
Minnesota ought to steer clear of even letting the Pawlenty capital punishment seed take root, and should emphasize that legislators look towards a revamping of the system and not an addition to it, one of even more risk and gamble. Besides, if capital punishment deterred capital crime, we would have a much stronger case in favor of it, but on the contrary, the evidence collected thus far indicates it has no effect on the murder rate. Of course, while there may be instances where the death penalty is necessary, in certain societies or governments, possibly due to a lack of facilities to treat and correct criminals-to protect them from harming outside civilians, by keeping them in institutions such as prisons and hospitals-then we would have a different situation. However, in the US, Minnesota particularly, we’re just simply not one of those societies.
I am sure that I speak for everyone around the nation praying for Dru Sjodin’s safe return, along with the absolute capture of her assailant. And if it is Rodriguez, then it is without a doubt that he should receive the highest penalty Minnesota/North Dakota has to offer, ALONG WITH a careful reevaluation of the judicial and correctional system, which put Rodriguez back on the street, a grave err which hopefully has NOT caused the death or harm of another innocent woman. However, in the bigger picture of this outrageous crime, we must not ignore this stadium sized red flag to Minnesota voters and legislators, not in terms of the possible instillation of capital punishment, but in terms of a more closer look at the means to which these criminals are working their way back onto society’s streets, dangerously.