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What made the "Willie Horton" tactic odious was not that Gov. Dukakis had furloughed a criminal (or whatever), but that governors have the responsibility of reviewing state board recommendations for various forms of clemency, and nothing is going to be perfect, given the vagaries of human behavior.
Most states, Arkansas included, have a system for reviewing appeals for clemency. In the situation here, a 16 year old offender was serving a 95 year prison term. Huckabee didn't throw a dart at a prisoner list here, but approved the recommendation of the state board.
Do I like Mike Huckabee? Am I a Freeper? No.
But I don't think that these types of decisions should be fodder for the political grist mill. Quite a few years ago, an acquaintance of mine, with the sole character flaw of being too helpful, was enticed into a criminal scheme in a sting operation in which an old friend of his, acting as an informant, set up a criminal conspiracy. Our state had just enacted "mandatory minimum" sentencing guidelines, and against the recommendation of the prosecution my friend was sentenced to 18 months. As 12 months was approaching, he obtained a hearing before the state clemency board, and we had such a community turnout for him that the board had never seen so many people attending their meetings in the past. Community leaders, educators, prospective employers, and others testified to his good character and willingness to contribute to his transition back into productive society.
Once again, the State AG's office stated it had no objection to his early release.
His application was turned down.
Why?
Because three weeks prior to the hearing, a prisoner on work release had committed a violent crime, and it had become a political football. In order to make a recommendation to the governor, a unanimous vote of the Board was required. One member of the seven member board scotched the application because he was worried about "political credibility" of the process if a prisoner subject to a "mandatory minimum" was not required to serve the mandatory sentence.
While I can respect that point of view, it is simply wrong to politicize a process that takes into account the individual factors bearing on any particular case.
Yes, the "Willie Horton" thing is said to have worked, but one might question whether Dukakis was going to win anyway.
Playing tit-for-tat in a political game involving clemency determinations - particularly where the state has a formal review process for making recommendations to the governor - does not strike me as appropriate.
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