Posted on 12/01/2019 12:04:11 PM PST by karpov
I remember a morning of unadulterated goodness. I’d come to celebrate graduation at a local men’s prison. The inmates had spent the semester studying criminal justice with students from the University of Cambridge as part of a program called Learning Together. The men from the prison dressed up for the occasion, hair slicked back and shirts tucked in.
Jack Merritt, my classmate at Cambridge and a program participant, recited a poem he’d written on forgiveness and rehabilitation. I remember feeling surprised by his words, so unselfconsciously earnest. I’d known him mostly for his dry wit, his boyishly good looks and his reputation as a criminology class clown.
Jack, who was 25 and from Cambridge, was stabbed to death during a terrorist attack near London Bridge on Friday. The attacker, Usman Khan, had been convicted of terrorism offenses in 2012. He was released from prison last year. Just before the attack, Jack was in Fishmongers’ Hall, a building adjacent to the bridge, helping to lead a conference on prisoner rehabilitation, an alumni celebration for Learning Together. Mr. Khan, who was attending the conference, began his rampage as a creative writing workshop was wrapping up inside the hall, around 2 p.m.
The injustice of somebody murdered while organizing for criminal justice feels impossibly sharp. Jack was in a room of people, some on day release from prison, discussing possibilities for penal reform.
But the world is full of injustice, and young people denied opportunity. Jack understood that better than most.
When I read the news of the attack, I pictured him back at Grendon prison reading his graduation poem. I remember how the students and inmates waved their diplomas in the air that day, pulling each other in for hugs and inside jokes. I remember how the prison auditorium felt blissfully full.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Idealism encounters reality with the usual harsh consequences.
Just think what In religion would ever get someone to grab a knife and stab random citizens. Then you’ll understand Islam. Eventually you get ISIS and the taliban
Jesus Christ walked the earth 2000 + years ago
I can’t think of one example of his followers in all of recorded history , ever do this or anything like it
A religion is ALWAYS based on its founder and HIS words and actions
I understand the need for second chances especially for minor offenses: getting caught smoking weed does not warrant life imprisonment. Especially when it’s a citizen. An undocumented immigrant should be deported.)
This was not a case of weed possession though, this man was terrorist. And he was let out. Inexcusably.
Irony is so ironic!
Every Pakistani Muslim in England is likely related to Sadik Khan.
I recommend the human wave tactic for prison rehab. Just keep throwing innocent victims at the problem until you overwhelm it. /s
He never figured he’d be the one to die if the compassion he lobbied for made a mistake.
Oops.
It seems the author is as blindly fanatical as the terrorist who murdered Mr. Merritt.
Poetic justice...killed by a jihadi.
It is poetic justice that the cuck died and not a real patriot.
How unnecessary can a detainment for attempted capital crimes be?
There could not be a dumber lesson to learn than to look at this story about this misguided clown, this foolish article, and the social media attaboys his family is trying to get.
Darwin Award winner
Perhaps his dad knew him to be a slow learner.
Trust but verify
Jack....you would be ALIVE if that MUSLIM TERRORIST was still in PRISON.....sad.
My guess is that it was not. Liberals will not give up their cherished romanticization of society because the alternative (to them) is worse than death.
True. Someone did a study of “minorities” in majority white countries, some of which practiced slavery (the US) and many who did not and found that in every country, “minorities” had higher criminal rates. This puts the lie to the Marxist sham that “minority” crime is due to the legacy of slavery, or discrimination or poverty, as Northern European countries, with high welfare allowances, can hardly be said to be impoverished.
I feel absolutely zero sympathy for this idiot!
Stupidity of his level kills.
“Over-Representation”
Definitely - in committing crimes!
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