Second Chances for a Serial Killer?

A friend emailed me about the tragic murders over the last two weeks in South Carolina and the former prisoner, Patrick Burris (left), who allegedly committed the crimes. Burris shot a police officer during a confrontation on Monday and officers shot and killed him. Police now say physical evidence ties him to the scenes of five murders believed to be committed by a serial killer starting on June 27. The investigation is ongoing and we shouldn't jump to judgment. But let's assume, for the sake of argument, that we do eventually find out that Burris killed these five people.

My friend wanted to play the devil's advocate: "Why should we release anyone on parole," he asked "when there's a chance they'll go on to kill again, or become a serial killer?" I appreciate the question, but a devil's advocate isn't necessary when we have South Carolina State Law Enforcement Chief Reggie Lloyd.

"Look at this," Lloyd said at a news conference, waving a copy of Burris's criminal record. "This is like 25 pages. At some point the criminal justice system is going to need to explain why this suspect was out on the street."

I'm sure regular readers won't be shocked to hear that I disagree with him. My heart goes out to the victims of these terrible crimes. If Burris did commit these murders, he caused unimaginable suffering and his actions were reprehensible. But I don't think locking up Burris - and everyone with a long rap sheet - is the right way to prevent violence. Burris had a long rap sheet, but his crimes weren't violent (as far as I can find). He was convicted of larceny, burglary, driving with a suspended license and forgery - but not murder or assault or robbery. Counting pages in a rap sheet sounds like the tough-on-crime rhetoric that turned us into a prison state.

Burris' rap sheet may long, but it didn't suggest that he'd become a serial killer. He apparently refused to live by our laws and he was sent to prison repeatedly for his crimes. He was just released from prison in April - perhaps pre-release and post-release services could have reached him and provided counseling, job training or relocation expenses and prevented his turn to violence. And maybe not.

Maybe he was a terrible guy and his life was on a course to this violent end. Even in that case, we can't predict when this will happen and we can't stop it by locking up everyone who acts suspicious or sending people away for life after they've picked up their fifth larceny. We need to change the system. We need to treat prison as rehabilitation rather than punishment and provide opportunities for improvement. And even then, there will be criminals who seek to hurt others - we will never prevent 100% of crime.

It's difficult to hand out second chances when we know we might give that second (or ninth) chance to a serial killer. But it's a risk we must take. There are violent people among us, they are driven by unknown motives and some will evade capture long enough to commit violent acts. Creating a culture of fear and punishment may stop some violence - but how much does it create?