This is why judges should not get lifetime appointments

Alicnwondrln

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http://www.massnews.com/2006_editions/3_march/31506_only_election_of_judges_will_save_us.htm

Only Election of Judges Will Save Us from the Likes of Judge McCann Who Allowed a Serial Rapist of Children to “Walk”
Radical Feminists like Lt. Gov. Kerry Healey Only Make Things Worse
By MassNews Staff
When Judge John McCann let a 56-year-old child rapist “walk” without jail-time in Worcester County on March 3, he made it clear why the vast majority of states make judges accountable to the voters at some point.
What a tragic ruling from Judge McCann! The rape of children is one of the most heinous of crimes. But like Maria Lopez, McCann has a lifetime appointment!! Despite the huge uproar over Judge Lopez she was finally allowed to just retire, with full benefits. Why should McCann worry?
-- Families of the victims are furious about allowing the rapist to walk. One mother said their children had had “their innocence robbed of them.”
-- A state trooper who tracked the child rapist to Florida said: “I put a tremendous amount of time into tracking him” and finally found the rapist after eight long months of searching by the Violent Fugitive Apprehension Unit of the State Police. That was back in June of last year and it took this long to get him back in Massachusetts because he kept fighting extradition.
Only 11 of the fifty states grant life tenure to trial judges like Judge McCann, according to the well respected National Center for State Courts. We are the worst state in the nation as far as empowering the citizens to have any control at all over their judges.
What Did the Judge Do?
The rapist, Glen Wheeler, was released from prison in 2004 after spending almost five years there for molesting and taking nude videos of seven boys and girls who were friends of his daughters. Although we do not know who was the sentencing judge who put him away for five years, the odds are slim that it was McCann.
After being released from prison, Wheeler became a concern for probation officers when they discovered he was living in Roxbury with several families and their children. He had converted to Islam, changed his name to Shareef Qadeer and was living in a mosque with the families.
In the fall of 2004 while still on probation, he totally disappeared which triggered the hunt for him which led to Florida and his fight against being extradited back here, and, finally, his appearance before Judge McCann this month.
At that time, the District Attorney sought to have him sent back to prison for up to ten years but Judge McCann merely put him back on probation with an electronic monitoring bracelet which could easily be removed when Wheeler is ready to disappear again.
For the present, Wheeler is in the Nashua Street jail on charges of failing to register as a sex offender. That hearing, before a different judge, is scheduled for March 28. His bail is only $500, which presumably would be raised if Wheeler seeks to be released before the hearing.
We are indebted to the star reporter Dave Wedge of the Boston Herald, who broke the story on Monday and Tuesday, March 13 and 14, for much of the information in this article.
 
Judges need lifetime appointments precisely so they can withstand public pressure. This was an unfortunately lax decision, but it does not justify scrapping our system and instituting mob rule.
 
I don't get the whole blaming of the liberals and feminists. I consider myself both and these issues have little to do with each other. In fact, generally we're the ones fighting on behalf of crime victims anyway- I worked in a nonprofit sexual assault center. Saw these cases every single day. But of course, this article is an editorial,so to each his own.

The point is that all judges need to be equipped with the power to put people behind bars for long sentences for crimes like these. Sometimes the laws are written so that even the MAX sentence is too lenient.
 
lw49033 said:
Judges need lifetime appointments precisely so they can withstand public pressure. This was an unfortunately lax decision, but it does not justify scrapping our system and instituting mob rule.
Well said.
 

Alicnwondrln said:
http://www.massnews.com/2006_editions/3_march/31506_only_election_of_judges_will_save_us.htm

Only Election of Judges Will Save Us from the Likes of Judge McCann Who Allowed a Serial Rapist of Children to “Walk”
Radical Feminists like Lt. Gov. Kerry Healey Only Make Things Worse
By MassNews Staff
When Judge John McCann let a 56-year-old child rapist “walk” without jail-time in Worcester County on March 3, he made it clear why the vast majority of states make judges accountable to the voters at some point.
What a tragic ruling from Judge McCann! The rape of children is one of the most heinous of crimes. But like Maria Lopez, McCann has a lifetime appointment!! Despite the huge uproar over Judge Lopez she was finally allowed to just retire, with full benefits. Why should McCann worry?
-- Families of the victims are furious about allowing the rapist to walk. One mother said their children had had “their innocence robbed of them.”
-- A state trooper who tracked the child rapist to Florida said: “I put a tremendous amount of time into tracking him” and finally found the rapist after eight long months of searching by the Violent Fugitive Apprehension Unit of the State Police. That was back in June of last year and it took this long to get him back in Massachusetts because he kept fighting extradition.
Only 11 of the fifty states grant life tenure to trial judges like Judge McCann, according to the well respected National Center for State Courts. We are the worst state in the nation as far as empowering the citizens to have any control at all over their judges.
What Did the Judge Do?
The rapist, Glen Wheeler, was released from prison in 2004 after spending almost five years there for molesting and taking nude videos of seven boys and girls who were friends of his daughters. Although we do not know who was the sentencing judge who put him away for five years, the odds are slim that it was McCann.
After being released from prison, Wheeler became a concern for probation officers when they discovered he was living in Roxbury with several families and their children. He had converted to Islam, changed his name to Shareef Qadeer and was living in a mosque with the families.
In the fall of 2004 while still on probation, he totally disappeared which triggered the hunt for him which led to Florida and his fight against being extradited back here, and, finally, his appearance before Judge McCann this month.
At that time, the District Attorney sought to have him sent back to prison for up to ten years but Judge McCann merely put him back on probation with an electronic monitoring bracelet which could easily be removed when Wheeler is ready to disappear again.
For the present, Wheeler is in the Nashua Street jail on charges of failing to register as a sex offender. That hearing, before a different judge, is scheduled for March 28. His bail is only $500, which presumably would be raised if Wheeler seeks to be released before the hearing.
We are indebted to the star reporter Dave Wedge of the Boston Herald, who broke the story on Monday and Tuesday, March 13 and 14, for much of the information in this article.

A sad story. Get rid of this judge! :sad2: Just pitiful.
 
It's hard to take that article seriously when the author vilifies "radical feminists" in the headline ... on behalf of every woman who ever burned her bra for the right to vote, I turn my back on today's voting women who frown at feminism.
 
You can thank feminism for the moral cesspool we call american culture today!
 
tworkit said:
You can thank feminism for the moral cesspool we call american culture today!

Got to love that point of view from a dude on the Disney Boards. :)
 
There are different kinds of feminism--one kind of feminism celebrates and appreciates women, while another kind is so eager to vilify men that they actually belittle women by reducing their identity to that of victims. I am all for the first kind and against the second.
 
beckmrk04 said:
I don't get the whole blaming of the liberals and feminists. .

Huh? Where'd that come from? Yours is the 3rd message and the first to mention it.
 
lw49033 said:
Judges need lifetime appointments precisely so they can withstand public pressure. This was an unfortunately lax decision, but it does not justify scrapping our system and instituting mob rule.

Mob rule? :confused3

They should ulimately be held accountable to the people. Judges with lifetime appointments should be able to be impeached which is harder to do than a general election.
 
Charade said:
Mob rule? :confused3

They should ulimately be held accountable to the people. Judges with lifetime appointments should be able to be impeached which is harder to do than a general election.

That would have a chilling effect on many of our freedoms. Freedom is not always palatable to the majority. A judge needs to be able to say, "It doesn't matter if 90% of the people want this, it's wrong."

This was a bad decision, but as the right wing jingoists like to say, "freedom is not free." This is one of the tradeoffs we have to make to be able to live in a free country.
 
lw49033 said:
That would have a chilling effect on many of our freedoms. Freedom is not always palatable to the majority. A judge needs to be able to say, "It doesn't matter if 90% of the people want this, it's wrong."

This was a bad decision, but as the right wing jingoists like to say, "freedom is not free." This is one of the tradeoffs we have to make to be able to live in a free country.

So how many more "bad" decisions does this judge get to make? A lifetime of them?
 
You can't let what you consider to be bad decisions by a handful of justices ruin the great American justice system under which the vast majority of judges operate in a fair manner.
 
Charade said:
Mob rule? :confused3

They should ulimately be held accountable to the people. Judges with lifetime appointments should be able to be impeached which is harder to do than a general election.

Supreme Court also?
 
In a democratic society there is always an impetus to have a tyranny of the majority. Lifetime tenure on Courts was instituted so that no matter how unpopular their decision, Judges could buck majority rule and do the right thing. We saw this in action during the civil rights struggle in the 60s and during the monkey trial of the 30s.

Yes this guy may have made a wrong decision and may not have followed the law. That's why we have appeals and impeachment.
 
Bravosntha2g said:
You can't let what you consider to be bad decisions by a handful of justices ruin the great American justice system under which the vast majority of judges operate in a fair manner.

Bad is bad. What do you expect from judges? We should INSIST that judges make GOOD decisions. But good doesn't necessarily mean popular.

Since many seem to think this was a bad decision, why not hold the judge accountable?
 
Charade said:
So how many more "bad" decisions does this judge get to make? A lifetime of them?

If the choice is between one educated judge and the general public which has no idea of law or even simple logic, I trust the judge to do the right thing more of the time.
 
eclectics said:
Supreme Court also?

Why not?

Congress does have the ability to impeach federally appointed judges.
 












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