The Georgia criminal justice system has clearly taken to heart the Politician’s syllogism first brought to light by Sir Humphrey Appleby. The Georgia version:
1. Somebody should hang for this.
2. This is somebody*.
3. Hang him!
* It is understood that the scope ratione materiae of the minor premise primarily denotes young males of African ancestry.
The “this” so deserving of hanging is copicide. The cops always howl for fresh blood in such cases, even if there is a lone perpetrator who died in the course of the crime, as happened a few years ago in Texas. (Google “Vodochodsky.”) Or there is the case of Kathy Boudin, who needed tremendous political pressure to get parole, despite being a model prisoner who had not herself committed a violent crime.
<i.Or there is the case of Kathy Boudin, who needed tremendous political pressure to get parole, despite being a model prisoner who had not herself committed a violent crime.
I have to disagree here. Kathy Boudin may not have pulled a trigger, but she absolutely committed a violent crime. She was a participant in an armed robbery in which a guard was killed, and then was in the getaway vehicle when two police officers were killed. Her continued participation after the first killing eliminates any attempt to avoid culpability in the further actions.
I think parole was warranted at the time it was given, but she was guilty of the charges she pleaded to. If anything, they were light.