[sitetest]

Part of the problem is that a sentence of 108 years wasn't really a sentence of 108 years. From what I've read, without the commutation to 47+ years, the murderer Clemmons would have been eligible for parole around 2015 after having served around 26 years of his sentence.

With the commutation of his sentence, he was eligible immmediately, having served around 11+ years.

Thus, in Arkansas, it appears that one must only serve around 25% of one's sentence to be eligible for parole, and to actually sentence someone to a moderately long sentence - like 25 years - a judge must give an ostensible sentence of four times that - in this example, 100 years.

And then folks say stupid things like, “It's so terrible that one would sentence a 16 year old to 100 years in prison,” when really, the net effect was to sentence the perp to 25 years in prison.

This person Clemmons, as a young man, brutally beat several people, including an old lady that he was robbing, stole large amounts of valuables and weapons, and even in custody, attempted violent crimes against prison personnel, court personnel, and credibly threatened a sitting judge.

Twenty-six years in prison doesn't seem an overly harsh sentence for someone like this at all. And it seems that a formal sentence of 108 years yielded just that - about 26 years in prison.

Gov. Huckabee’s commutation reduce his formal sentence to 47+ years, but his actual sentence to about 11 years. And that was far too short a sentence for such a violent offender.

To say otherwise is disingenuous, bordering on lying.

[mkjessup]

..."a sentence of 108 years wasn't really a sentence of 108 years. From what I've read, without the commutation to 47+ years, the murderer Clemmons would have been eligible for parole around 2015 after having served around 26 years of his sentence.

With the commutation of his sentence, he was eligible immmediately, having served around 11+ years.

Thus, in Arkansas, it appears that one must only serve around 25% of one's sentence to be eligible for parole, and to actually sentence someone to a moderately long sentence - like 25 years - a judge must give an ostensible sentence of four times that - in this example, 100 years.

And then folks say stupid things like, “It's so terrible that one would sentence a 16 year old to 100 years in prison,” when really, the net effect was to sentence the perp to 25 years in prison.

This person Clemmons, as a young man, brutally beat several people, including an old lady that he was robbing, stole large amounts of valuables and weapons, and even in custody, attempted violent crimes against prison personnel, court personnel, and credibly threatened a sitting judge.

Twenty-six years in prison doesn't seem an overly harsh sentence for someone like this at all. And it seems that a formal sentence of 108 years yielded just that - about 26 years in prison.

Gov. Huckabee’s commutation reduced his formal sentence to 47+ years, but his actual sentence to about 11 years. And that was far too short a sentence for such a violent offender.

To say otherwise is disingenuous, bordering on lying.

*** OUTSTANDING!!! ***

I am posting this to "all" because EVERYONE in this thread needs to read your post #110 and understand that the so-called '108 year sentence' was not at all excessive. Had the Huckster NOT reduced Clemmon's sentence, he would be getting out of the Arkansas Department of Corrections six years from now, and that would mean that four police officers would be alive and well and their families NOT mourning them this Christmas season.

Thank you Sitetest for the most important post in this thread.

[Yomin Postelnik]

Parole isn’t automatic and would need to be earned. In any case, a 26 year sentence handed down to a teen robber is extremely severe, prevents rehabilitation and breeds career criminals.

[Yomin Postelnik]

Please read the article. 11 years, as far as I’m concerned, is also too long for a teen burglar and too lenient at the same time. 1 year of hard labor, constant hard labor, would have very likely straightened him out. Locking him up bored with career criminals breeds violent animals. His having faced the possibility of life (as parole is not automatic) would have caused a 17 year old to go maniacal if he wasn’t already, as would 26 on a slew of burglary charges. Sensible sentencing is the only way to stop thousands of Clemmons’ from developing.