Showing posts with label Massachusetts. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Massachusetts. Show all posts

Tuesday, December 28, 2010

How About We Stop Paroling Violent Career Criminals?

You'd might think basic common sense would prevent the release of a dangerous serial offender. Consider Dominic Cinelli.
Cinelli’s parole records show a checkered past: a rehabilitated junkie who started shooting heroin at 14, he was a career criminal who at one point was serving three concurrent life sentences for several armed robberies, armed assault with intent to commit murder, assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, and unlawful possession of a firearm.
A lifetime of crime, three life sentences, yet he was paroled in 2009. On this past Sunday night Cinelli and some accomplices robbed a jewelry store. A police officer intervened as they were attempting to leave, leading to a shoot-out which left both Cinelli and the officer dead.
It was the first and last time in 34 years of public service that Woburn police officer John “Jack” Maguire, 60, a married father, had fired his gun on the job. He planned to retire in October.
Maguire should be alive today. A major reason he's dead is because fools decided to release someone who committed crimes serious enough to receive three life sentences. Our jails are full of non-violent drug offenders, and other criminals without a history of violence. If we need to let people out to alleviate overcrowding, how about we focus on them and leave the violent felons safely behind bars?