It’s not just in San Francisco and New York City that violent career criminals are being released en masse, only to commit more crimes. Republicans in Oklahoma and other states have bought into this “criminal justice reform” lie – that somehow our system is too tough on criminals, rather than too lenient by a mile. The deception of “low-level criminals” propelling last year’s mass prison release in Oklahoma has now been laid bare by the case of Lawrence Paul Anderson.
Anderson is accused of killing his neighbor, Andrea Lynn Blankenship, 41, on February 12 in Chickasha, cutting out her heart, and cooking it with potatoes at his uncle’s house. He then allegedly killed his uncle, injured his aunt, and killed the couple’s 4-year-old granddaughter.
As soon as I saw the story, I figured that a person like that either had to be a career criminal released early from prison, a known criminally insane person who should have been known to law enforcement, or both.
Well, remember that mass commutation by Gov. Kevin Stitt (R) a little more than a year ago? On Nov. 4, Gov. Stitt commuted the sentences of 527 criminals, in the largest single prison release in U.S. history. To a cheering crowd, he bragged about “second chances” being offered to “low-level” offenders. This was part of a broad effort that has infected even the most conservative states – convincing the public that we have an over-incarceration problem, rather than an under-incarceration problem.
The people of Oklahoma deserve blame because they ultimately voted for State Question 780 in 2016, which downgraded drug and theft crimes across the board. Proponents spent over $4 million dollars with almost no opposition.
Do you feel that you’re no longer a threat to others? Do you feel that you have been rehabilitated?
“Well, I guess you people need to let me go to find out.”