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To the editor:
After allegedly pushing his girlfriend off a subway platform into the path of a train, causing injuries that made it necessary for her legs to be amputated, Christian Valdez is finally being charged with attempted murder and held without bail.
This was not the case last December when he allegedly repeatedly stabbed an ex-girlfriend, was charged with assault and released.
This was not the case after he stabbed a mother and daughter with a broken bottle in 2017. For that, he was convicted of attempted assault. Attempted? Only assault? He was sentenced to three to eight years and paroled after three.
Then there's Amira Hunter. She was released without bail after hitting cello player Iain Forrest with a metal bottle at a subway station. She would later be arrested for shoplifting and held on $500 bail.
The criminal justice system in this city is controlled mostly by Democrats, so Republicans don't have a monopoly on stupidity. But then, most leaders from both the major parties, to quote Richard Attenborough, "act like stupidity is a bloody virtue."
Both Democrats and Republicans are soft on the country's biggest criminal. The Democrats waited a long time to indict Donald Trump for anything. He still hasn't been charged with insurrection. Republicans are worse. They don't want him to be prosecuted at all.
Richard Warren
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namrogm
I think part of the problem with treating criminals as the true threats to the public at large is this weak and cowardly idea that there are no bad people, just bad behavior. Those who have spent their lives in law enforcement and/or the legal profession know that there are bad people - no excuses allowed - truly evil human beings. They have to be stopped, not just treated in a vain attempt to reform them. For every kid who went bad and blames a missing father for his criminal behavior, there are many who lived a useful life in single parent homes. Jackie Robinson grew up in a large family with a missing/useless father and he became a true American hero and trailblazer. Those convicted of crimes that don't include murder deserve a second chance, not a get-out-of-jail-free card.
Wednesday, March 20 Report this