Leave Well Enough Alone, Part II

Well Susan Lefevre (AKA Marie Walsh) is back behind bars. Is that a good thing?

For those who don’t know the story: Susan Lefevre walked away from a Michigan prison 32 years ago and has been living a normal life in California since then, marrying and having 3 children. Her original conviction was for drug charges, selling to an undercover agent. She has been discovered in California and was recently re-arrested, being held in a California jail awaiting extradition to Michigan.

What are the benefits of re-arresting her? They are to see that justice is served, punish her for escaping, and provide a deterrent for other criminals by demonstrating that the laws are still enforced. What are the problems with re-arresting her? They are cost and her effectively 32 years of parole.

What is the point of putting someone in prison? To punish her, rehabilitate her, protect other citizens, or all of the above? If it is to protect other citizens, then I doubt that applies to this case. She is not a threat to anyone. Now on to the other points.

If it is to punish her, then are there other means of punishment that are not going to be a drain on society? Why not leave her out of prison, but sentence her to some monetary fine and community service? That would provide a benefit to society, rather than costing taxpayers tens of thousands of dollars per year to lock her up. Some punishment is needed to keep the laws valid, but not jail time in this case. The prison space is needed for everyone who is currently dangerous and causing problems.

If the point is to rehabilitate her, then I argue she has already rehabilitated herself. If 32 years of being a productive member of society and committing no more crimes doesn’t mean you’re clean, then what does? Some may argue that she was living a clean life only to avoid being detected and captured. But aren’t there plenty of people out there who don’t have a criminal record who are doing the same thing? Some people need money, but the only reason they don’t rob a bank is because they don’t want to get caught. It’s too tricky to judge people on their intent. A parolee is judged not on his thoughts, but on his actions.

But what lesson is this teaching other criminals? Are they being taught that if you escape, just keep quiet long enough and then you’ll be forgiven? If everybody did what Susan Lefevre did, what would happen? There would be no more crime, no more welfare, etc. There are some dangerous criminals who should be rounded up. It helps this case that there is no direct victim or victim’s family. It would be hard to say she should be left alone if, for example, she had murdered someone. Why should she get to live a nice life while her victim doesn’t get to live? But that doesn’t apply to this case. How do we encourage criminals to leave the crime behind and become productive members of society?

If I were the governor of Michigan (currently Jennifer Granholm), I would be tempted to stop this whole debate by pardoning this woman. But the system should be adjusted to account for these types of cases. I think they will be more common in the future, as states are sharing their records and advances in technology and forensics allow DNA and other things to be tested and cross-referenced. Filling the prisons with non-violent criminals who have been clean for decades makes sense only if the prisons are empty and there is no one else to put in there. But an appropriate punishment should be determined, in order to provide a deterrent for those who are tempted to escape from prison.

instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously and godly in the present age,

Titus 2:12

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This little article thingy was written by Some Guy sometime around 6:15 pm and has been carefully placed in the Current Events category.

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