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    Jarred Harrell Might Have Been Better Off at Trial

    By Andrew Riggio | Yahoo! Contributor Network – Sat, Feb 4, 2012
    This story comes from the Yahoo! Contributor Network, where individuals publish their unique perspectives on some of the world’s most popular websites.
    Do you have a story to tell? Become a Yahoo! contributor

    COMMENTARY | Jarred Harrell pleaded guilty in the Somer Thompson case with "first-degree murder, kidnapping, sexual battery and lewd and lascivious molestation," according to the Florida Times-Union, and two counts of molestation of one of his relatives. He received four life sentences without chance of parole, followed by two more to be served after that. In the long run he may wish he'd gone to trial instead of taking the plea.

    Harrell took the plea to avoid the death penalty, according to MSNBC. Judge Don Lester handed down the sentence and told Harrell, "You will have the rest of your natural life in prison to contemplate the actions committed and the indescribable suffering you have caused to these victims and their families." Harrell might have something else to do with the rest of his natural life: Struggle to survive while locked up with people who might make him wish he was dead.

    Sex offenders, particularly those who target children, find the prison system more terrifying than most inmates. An ABC News report called being an imprisoned pedophile, "a living hell." The report details how inmates kill, stab and torment known pedophiles in prison. A corrections offices is quoted in the article as saying, "once their crime has become known, they usually don't make it," without protective custody.

    The pervasive nature of media makes news of this sort spread rapidly. People gravitate toward strange and shocking news, so news agencies report on it heavily. That, in conjunction with the extreme nature of these crimes, could mean inmates locked up with Harrell already know about his crimes and know he is coming.

    Harrell might have been wiser to go to trial and force the death penalty on himself. If that happened there might have been a chance for a sentence that might carry a bit more justice. While on death row, he could have been ordered to help a ghost writer pen his story (since such things tend to sell well) and dedicate all the proceeds to the Thompson family or a charity for missing children.

    Now Harrell might well end up just another corpse, giving no value to anyone other than the prison rep of whomever takes him out in the night.

     

    3 comments

    • FIFTY
      FIFTY  •  3 mths ago
      Interesting.
    • Bbstackr
      Bbstackr  •  3 mths ago
      Andrew, I most certainly hope that Jared Harrell's 4 life sentences can end as quickly as you predict. "Now Harrell might well end up just another corpse." We all end up that way. My prayers are with Harrell's victims and their families, not with his fate.
    • Victoria Two
      Victoria Two  •  3 mths ago
      Are not most phedophile, sex-offenders housed separately from the general population for the very reasons given in this article?
     Post a comment
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