Prison system’s ban should have been nixed
Gary Andersen, Lee SmithIt is important for the public, not just law enforcement professionals, to gain insight into the thinking of those who commit heinous crimes. How often have we heard murderers described by friends, co-workers and neighbors as "normal" people? Learning what makes them different may - just may - provide some safeguards against them.
After domestic terrorist Timothy McVeigh appeared in a television interview in 2000, federal prison officials barred death row inmates from giving face-to-face interviews with reporters. McVeigh later was executed for the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing that killed 168 people.
Last week, the Supreme Court turned down a case involving another federal death row inmate who wanted to grant an interview to a reporter. The effect of the high court's action is to uphold the prison system's ban on such interviews.
While we can understand the reasoning of those who do not want such interviews to be held, we believe the court was in error. The more that can be known about those who commit terrible crimes - and the more people who know it - the better.
