A firestorm of protest has enveloped the Immigration and
Naturalization Service's handling of an illegal alien, Angel Maturino
Resendiz, also known as Rafael Resendez-Ramirez, because he allegedly
murdered four more people in the United States after the INS Border
Patrol released him back to Mexico last June.
When released, he was wanted by the FBI, Texas Rangers and Houston
police for questioning about several other murders.
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Since his surrender July 13, he has been charged with seven murders.
Rep. Lamar Smith, R-Texas, said the report painted a picture of
"Keystone Kops" and that the House immigration subcommittee he chairs
was investigating the case and other crimes by deportable aliens who
have been released.
TRENDING: Is this what you voted for, America?
Pretty infuriating. But don't get too worked up over this single
incident. The truth is that the treatment of Resendiz, or whatever his
name is, by the INS is not exceptional with regard to the way violent,
murderous repeat offenders are handled by the so-called justice system
at all levels.
For all the outrage expressed by politicians and activists about gun
control, there is a far better, more efficient, constitutional way to
cut down murders in this country by one-third or, put another way, to
save roughly 15 lives a day.
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One-third of all crime -- including homicide -- is committed by
felons on probation or parole.
To put this in perspective, the 1998 homicide count in the U.S. was
16,914. That means about 5,638 people were killed that year by criminals
under government "supervision." Divide that number by 365 and you get 15
murders a day -- all by people under government "supervision."
Am I making up the statistics? No way. I'm using Janet Reno's
numbers.
The picture painted by the Department of Justice is, if anything,
bleaker than I am representing with regard to the issue of recidivism --
repeat offenders.
"In 1991, 45 percent of state prisoners were persons who, at the time
they committed their offense, were under conditional supervision in the
community -- either on probation or on parole," says a Justice
Department report. "Based on the offense that brought them to prison,
the 162,000 probation violators committed at least 6,400 murders, 7,400
rapes, 10,400 assaults, and 17,000 robberies, while under supervision in
the community an average of 17 months."
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But it gets even worse.
"Based on the offense that brought parolees back to prison, these
156,000 offenders committed at least 6,800 murders, 5,500 rapes, 8,800
assaults and 22,500 robberies, while under supervision in the community
an average of 13 months," said the report.
The statistics are based on a national survey in which personal
interviews were conducted with 13,986 inmates in 277 state correctional
institutions. You paid for the study, folks. It's time you learned the
hard truth about crime and punishment in your country.
Here are some other facts:
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- 35 percent of state prison inmates in 1991 were convicted of
a new offense they committed while on probation or parole; - 30 percent of all offenders in state prison for a violent crime
were probation or parole violators; - collectively, probation and parole violators committed 90,639
violent crimes while being "supervised" in their community; - 55 percent of probationers and parolees reported that, in the
month prior to their current offense, they were using drugs -- 41
percent daily; - felony probationers and parolees are not permitted to possess a
firearm, yet 21 percent of probation and parole violators imprisoned for
a new offense reported possessing a firearm while under "supervision" of
the government; - of probation and parole violators who owned or possessed a
handgun in the month before arrest, almost three of every four were
armed when they committed their current offense;
Read it and weep, folks. If you want to do something about the
murder and mayhem infecting our cities, the place to start -- it seems
to me -- is with better management of the violent offenders already
under supposedly strict government care.
For those of you who trust the government to protect you and who are
willing to give up your constitutional right to bear arms, just look at
the great job your would-be benefactor is doing now.
Oh, by the way. How did I find out about this little-known Justice
Department report? It was sent to me by Gail Keasling, mother of a child
murdered by one of those "supervised" felons.