Convicted? In the out door of punishment

I believe in bad guys. That’s just the way it is. Whether they are born that way, created that way by environmental factors or made that way by chemical imbalance that goes untreated, it doesn’t matter to me.

I believe in bad guys.

And I believe they belong where steel doors clang good morning and good night so the good guys can rest easy.

They come in all colors and shapes and all sizes. They prey in suits and ties as well as baggy jeans and T-shirts.

They murder, rape, rob and menace — and sometimes leave their victims alive when they would be better off dead.

They do unspeakable things to children with cold-blooded indifference to the pain and suffering they are causing, throw acid in people’s faces and plot the murder of innocent people.

They are arrested, convicted and thrown in jail.

But somehow, they find their way back out on the streets, and the good guys are constantly under assault.

And I don’t understand why. Every day of every year, people are killed by bad guys — and bad guys don’t change.

And those who say they have only seem to discover that light when the rest of their life has gone dark under the bright radar of the judicial system.

In a previous column, “Street life? Get it now and pay later,” I questioned why drug dealers go back and forth to jail but have nothing to show for their misbegotten deeds except time behind bars.

This week, I am questioning our judicial system and its inthe-out-door way crime and punishment is delivered in this country — a delivery system that circles criminals right back to do more harm to unsuspecting citizens.

All because we believe in being compassionate.

We are indeed a nation of compassion and we should remain one.

But sometimes that compassion stands on moral righteousness — not reality — and blinds us to the obvious: there are bad guys who don’t want help.

There are many innocent people who lie below us needlessly because we already had the bad guy behind bars.

We’ve all read about the horror stories or seen them on the evening news. A violent man is set free — and the person who feared him the most is killed.

The question is why do we treat these bad guys like they’re troubled youth under the guidance of Father Flanagan?

Why do we put up with it when it is clear it is getting worse, not better?

The numbers are numbing. Nationwide, the FBI reported that in 2015, murders rose at their fastest pace in a quartercentury — and in 2016, murders continued to rise in big cities by 11.3 percent.

Here in Connecticut, while overall violent crime is down, the number of murders has mushroomed by nearly 32 percent.

A study conducted by the Connecticut Department of Public Safety in 2012, followed 14,398 men after they were released or discharged from a prison. The study found that within five years of their release, 79 percent were re-arrested, 69 percent were convicted of a new crime, and 50 percent were returned to prison with a new sentence.

It’s no wonder some cops feel like hamsters on a wheel. They bust their butts, put their lives in danger, arrest the bad guy only to see him back out on the streets.

Shootings have become so commonplace, they are no longer screaming headlines. Kids 13-, 14and 15-years-old are being shot and killed.

So, the bad guys — and the bad women for that matter — are not getting the message.

It is time to swallow compassion and show we can be bad guys, too. We must allow the law to take back our streets and put these men exactly where they belong: locked away from society.

On Thursday, I attended a call-in session of Project Longevity — an all out effort by a combination of law enforcement officials to reduce gang violence — where 17 young men were urged to listen to the experts who were there to help and to take advantage of the myriad of services designed to move them forward and away from guns, violence and gangs.

Some men were clearly on the path as they mentioned jobs and family — and for those who were not, the door remains open.

But we know what happens to men who refuse to follow direction.

Men who are unwilling to listen, don’t learn. And men who don’t learn, can’t grow.

That’s why we have people walking the streets who have been locked up so many times, they may as well use the jailhouse as their mailing address.

They won’t change, so we must.

I know my hard-line stance isn’t the best solution but I am not sure what else society can do.

We must keep these men convicted for violent crimes behind bars and not allow them to take advantage of the in-the-out-door punishment our judicial system allows to give them another chance.

We can’t stop them from shooting but we can make sure they’re never on the streets again to pull the trigger.

I believe in bad guys. That’s just the way it is. And I am wondering readers ... if you believe, too