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OPINIONS
Voice of the people
Criminals should be kept off streets
There seems to be an increase of child abductions and rape or murder of children. Many times, the abductor is a known felon who has been paroled from prison for the same or similar crime, some of them three or four times in the past. This has become so common that we really have lost sight of the real problem. Let the punishment fit the crime!
These people are not addicted to this kind of behavior. They commit these heinous crimes deliberately, knowing that the worst punishment they will receive is a short prison sentence. We turn them loose after a while and do not keep track of them until they kill some other little innocent child.
If the family of the murdered or molested child could decide the punishment instead of our crooked court system, there would be a lot less of these crimes. I would not grieve for them if they had their heads cut off as soon as their guilt was determined beyond a shadow of a doubt.
Elmo Bledsoe
Barboursville
Right of appeal a must for state courts
During his recent State-of-the-State address, Gov. Joe Manchin called for establishment of a right of appeal in West Virginia. West Virginia is the only state that does not provide a right of appeal from a final judgment in a lower court in either civil or criminal cases. This significantly tarnishes the state's reputation in terms of its legal and judicial climate.
Gov. Manchin also announced that the West Virginia Supreme Court will soon issue rules that are intended to ensure there will be full appellate review by the court of all final decisions on the merits issued by the circuit courts in West Virginia. There are many good models for the Supreme Court justices to adopt, particularly the appellate rules of the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals in the federal court system.
Appellate review is an essential component to a fair and balanced judicial system, and appropriate rules proposed by the state's high court will be an important and welcome development in improving the state's judicial climate.
The West Virginia Chamber of Commerce strongly supports the actions being taken by Gov. Manchin and the state Supreme Court of Appeals, and we urge them to provide for a right of appeal from all final judgments in the circuit courts.
Steve Roberts
President
West Virginia Chamber of Commerce
