news from cleveland: anthony sowell was convicted in 1989 and served 15 years in prison for rape. he was released in 2005. police have now discovered six badly decomposed bodies in his home, presumably raped and strangled to death. there is also some talk of a predatory myspace site that he used to lure women to his house.
i know there will be some sort of media frenzy following this story [very timely considering my dissertation topic researching sex offenders and recidivism]. people will call for reform to parole and/or sex offender registration, as sowell was registered and monitored [though obviously not closely enough; neighbors said the house smelled quite foul]. people are always more outraged by crimes committed by those who have previously served time in prison. popular opinion says that a crime committed by someone who was once incarcerated is then due to a failure on part of the system to protect the public. it will be said that these murders could have been prevented if he was never released from prison. of course, the question is how different he is from all the others who serve time and are then released.
i'm off to ASC in philadelphia so there will be no more posts from me this week.
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