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10/12 11:52pm To all: I am saddened and dismayed to see that otherwise intelligent people here in Norfolk are falling for the "swift boating" of Deval Patrick. Yes, he and several other prominent individuals were hoodwinked by a clever, devious, probably insane "jailhouse lawyer," but let's not throw out the baby with the bathwater. Before you start screaming at your monitors that I too am more concerned for the criminal than the victim, take a deep breath. I think rapists should rot in jail forever. Murderers too. And while I can't say I would lose sleep if their linens were days old, there are reasons why we as a society should care about the treatment of people in jail. Us Americans believe in basic human decency, and while there are many violent criminals out there who arguably don't deserve even the lowest standard of human decency, we as a society must maintain standards. I attended a lecture recently given by one of the attorneys involved in the Guantanamo Bay cases. Before he even opened his mouth, an audience member stood up and chastised him for defending suspected terrorists, and I wondered myself how this person could actually go to work each day to defend such people. The speaker began by explaining how sickened he was by his "clients," how sickened he was to have to speak to them, to hear of their beliefs, their hatred, their violence. But he went on to say that the rights of individuals are always worth fighting for, even if certain individuals don't deserve them, and in this case, these very individuals would deny them of others. This person knows how vile these people are. He's not advocating they be set free to terrorize again. He's advocating that we treat people in accordance with our laws, and justice system so we remain a civil society, and don't become the very thing we are fighting against. We have a justice system because we believe in it. We cherish it, and most of the time it works. Occasionally, though, it doesn't. The wrong people get convicted. People spend years in jail for crimes they didn't commit. When we as a society say that's okay, we've lost what makes us great and what we as a society hold dear. Not for a minute do I believe Deval Patrick was suggesting the rights of criminals are more important than the rights of victims. I believe rather that he was trying to use the safeguards of our judicial system to ensure that justice was done. In the case of the rapist, clearly he was hoodwinked. But in general, to be an advocate for treating human beings properly is in our best interest as a society, even if a horrible person benefits occasionally.
- TC