On Friday, January 14, Lakewood police officer Christopher Matlosz was shot three times sitting in his patrol car after he stopped a pedestrian for “routine questioning.” After a massive search, police arrested the alleged killer 19 year old Jahmell Crockam, who is known as “Sav,” as in savage, on the streets. Crockam is in custody; his bail has been set at $5 million.
This heinous and cowardly act deserves swift punishment. The deliberate killing of another human being is the most immoral—and cowardly– act one individual can commit against another human being. With the recent abolition of the death penalty in New Jersey, what punishment is appropriate for murderers, or others convicted of capital crimes?
I would argue that crimes such as murder, serial rape, child molestation, armed bank robbery, carjacking and other violent offenses are unconscionable assaults against innocent individuals, and that the perpetrators have lost any moral claim to live among us, even if their punishment is life in prison without parole. Why?
Convicts sentenced to life in prison without parole are huge financial drains on taxpayers, all of whom are the very victims of their vicious acts of depravity. Violent individuals have no place in a civilized society, where 99% of the population coexists peacefully. Convicts are housed, fed, and receive medical care at the expense of taxpayers, which can reach as much as $40,000 per year.
Given the fiscal drain “these people” place on the law abiding citizens of New Jersey and other states, there is a sure fire way to end this drain on the public treasury and make our communities much safer—deportation.
Where should convicted killers and others found guilty of capital crimes be deported? As far away as possible. Uninhabited islands in Southeast Asia provide an ideal destination for convicted killers, rapists, and others. On the island(s), each prisoner would have an ankle GPS so they would be monitored for escape. Initially, the convicts would be provided a week or month’s supply of food and water, and then they would have to live off the land.
The states and the federal government should change the laws, if necessary, that would allow states to “exile” the most depraved individuals among us to a location as far as possible from us so they can live in a society that reflects their values—a culture of perpetual violence and depraved indifference to their fellow human beings.