Byron Dorgan: “I am sorry, murderers ought not get out early under any condition, and if we cannot protect the Jonathan Halls and…”

“I am sorry, murderers ought not get out early under any condition, and if we cannot protect the Jonathan Halls and Bettina Pruckmayrs, and other people who were killed by murderers who should not have been in a position to kill anybody, then we should not be in the business of law enforcement. I support this amendment. It makes eminent good sense, and I support many initiatives by Senator Biden and others on our side of the aisle who have worked long and hard on this issue. There are good ideas from the other side as well, and I appreciate those. But it is not a good idea to step back, it is a good idea to step forward in addressing crime. Preserving the COPS Program is one step. I intend in the coming days to offer a second step, not on this bill but as a separate piece of legislation, dealing with the issue of those who have been previously convicted of violent crimes, that they ought not get good time to go out and murder again, that they ought not be put on our streets early. Bettina Pruckmayr and Jonathan Hall should not have been killed, and more in the future will not be killed if we deal with this appropriately.”