What is wrong with Rhode Island?

In 1982 police from the coastal town of South Kingston found the shackled remains of a five year old boy in the house of Michael Woodmansee. They also found journals detailing the torture that the poor child underwent at the hands of Woodmansee. He was convicted of second degree murder and sentenced to forty years. The idea was that if he plead out to second degree murder the family of the victim wouldn't be forced to undergo the horrors of a trial. 

What happened?

Woodmansee will be released in August, for good behavior. What is good behavior for a child predator and killer? The idea that they would release such a monster onto an unsuspecting public is beyond horrific. The father of five year old Jason Foreman has vowed to take matters into his own hands if they released him. There are many citizens who would gladly step up with the father to rid this world of such a monster. The real question though is why has this become necessary. Why do citizens feel like they have to take justice in their own hands? Why is our justice system continually failing. 

Unfortunately Rhode Island is not the only state with a failing Justice System. When a sixteen year old boy molests and murders a five year old he should spend more than 28 years in prison.

Florida dropped the ball at least twice

Jessica Lunsford, was brutally murdered by a convicted criminal. John Evander Couey should have been spending a life in prison instead out roaming the streets looking for victims. Then there is Lionel Tate, the twelve year old who brutally murdered a little girl and served a whopping three years for it because in the Judges eyes a twelve year old can't possibly understand what it means to take a life.

Vigilante Justice

At some point we will start looking at vigilante justice as the answer to fixing our criminal justice system. It's not broke yet, we shouldn't throw the baby out with the bathwater. What we need to do is accept the fact that a not perfect system relies on Judges and Juries that currently are doing more harm than good. There has yet to be a successful rehabilitation of child predators. Knowing this, and knowing that there have been successful rehabilitation of drug offenders one can easily make the argument that people like Michael Woodmansee should spend the rest of their lives in jail or receive the death penalty. When deciding who to release on good behavior we need to look more toward drug offenders than child killers. A child killer should never get another chance to kill again, especially such a vicious monster like Woodmansee.