Going Easy on Juvie Cons: Judges Have Gone Too Far
THE ISSUE: A 15-year-old with 11 previous arrests who was charged with dragging a cop behind a stolen vehicle.
There’s something drastically wrong with our justice system when a 15-year-old who has already racked up 11 arrests was on the streets, where he was able to commit the very worst offense of his sordid and pathetic criminal career (“Any Solutions, Mr. Mayor?” Editorial, June 8).
De Blasio is decrying Justin Murrell’s crime after he himself backed a law that would have more juveniles even older than Murrell be tried in Family Court.
The bottom line is if you clearly show a complete disregard for the rule of law, regardless of your age, there should be a prison cell with your name on it.
Let’s be clear here: Incarceration is supposed to be, among other things, a deterrent. You’re minimizing that effect when you justify freeing perpetrators based strictly on age. Louie Rey East Meadow
It’s the same old story in our city: Liberal judges letting hoodlums off with just a wrist slap.
Now another brave NYPD officer lies criti- cally injured because of our incompetent judicial system.
Murrell, just 15 years old with 11 arrests under his belt already, was certainly on a direct path to become a more serious criminal and should have been in jail for his past crimes.
What are these judges thinking? Where are these kids’ parents? The failure of the systems all around this troubled youth should be a wake-up call. Joseph Cavaliere Valley Stream De Blasio is shocked that Murrell was walking the streets despite “such a clear pattern of criminality.”
Criminality matters to de Blasio only when the perpetrators are American citizens.
If an American kid commits a crime, he goes to jail, but if an illegal immigrant participates in a gang, de Blasio protects him.
This double standard discriminates against our own citizens. A crime is a crime, regardless of who commits it. Lou Canto Norwalk, Conn.
A cop being dragged by a stolen car is just one of countless violent crimes being committed by cons who, for a variety of reasons, are not behind bars.
Perhaps if the court system were held liable for the damage inflicted by repeat offenders who are free to walk the streets, these thugs would remain locked up, so they can’t injure or kill innocent people. Mel Young Lawrence