Elizabeth Smart kidnapper to be released from prison

#1
Hoosier_Vol

Hoosier_Vol

Vol Stuck in B1G 10 Hell
Joined
May 26, 2005
Messages
34,322
Likes
41,554
#1
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — A woman convicted of helping a former street preacher kidnap Elizabeth Smart in 2002 will be freed from prison more than five years earlier than expected, a surprise decision that Smart called "incomprehensible" on Tuesday.

Wanda Barzee, 72, will be released Sept. 19 after the Utah Board of Pardons and Parole determined it had miscalculated the time she previously served in federal custody, board spokesman Greg Johnson said.

Barzee pleaded guilty to kidnapping Smart and helping keep her captive for nine months before then-teenager was found and rescued.

Elizabeth Smart kidnapper to be released from prison
 
#2
#2
That lady is still dangerous and needs to removed from this world. Elizabeth Smart said the lady is in possession of a manifesto written by the man that raped smart and is being released with it.
 
#4
#4
davethevol said:
That lady is still dangerous and needs to removed from this world. Elizabeth Smart said the lady is in possession of a manifesto written by the man that raped smart and is being released with it.
Click to expand...

What are you basing that on?
 
#8
#8
DancingOutlaw said:
People that commit or facilitate sex crimes (especially against children) aren’t going to be rehabilitated. Something is broken in their brain. If given half a chance they will be back at it again.
Click to expand...
The article said that she had been diagnosed with several mental illnesses. I believe Huff could rehabilitate her.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Carl Pickens, Obsessed, davethevol and 1 other person
#9
#9
DancingOutlaw said:
People that commit or facilitate sex crimes (especially against children) aren’t going to be rehabilitated. Something is broken in their brain. If given half a chance they will be back at it again.
Click to expand...

What are you basing this on?
 
#13
#13
I think whether or not she can be or has been rehabbed is irrelevant in this instance.

She aided and abetted in the kidnapping and repeated rape of a child. The guy who actually carried out the acts got life in prison. It doesn't seem all that difficult to argue that a confederate in the plot should be locked up forever too.
 
  • Like
Reactions: joevol33 and Hoosier_Vol
#18
#18
1972 Grad said:
I think it's more like you take up for every lowlife on the planet, just to be contrarian.
Click to expand...

I didn't take up for her. I know nothing other than broad details about this case and her release. I have no opinion about this release at all because I don't know enough. I'm just sitting here wondering why people have such strong opinions when they have no idea what they're talking about. For example, the claim that people who facilitate sex crimes aren’t going to be rehabilitated in 15 years:

- what is a common sentence for somebody who has facilitated a sex crime?
- what is the recidivism rate of people who do 15 years for facilitating sex crime?
- what is the recidivism rate for people in their 70's?
- what is the recidivism rate for religious crazies?
- is she better-suited for a mental health facility?
- is she dangerous while the "prophet" is behind bars?

There are so many questions that need to be answered before you can say **** like "she's dangerous" and so on. She's still crazy and has a manifesto from her prophet? Nobody actually knows this to be true, but say it is...how does that necessarily make her dangerous?

You emotional thinkers would have done just fine in 17th century Salem.
 
Last edited:
#19
#19
1972 Grad said:
The article said that she had been diagnosed with several mental illnesses. I believe Huff could rehabilitate her.
Click to expand...


"It is incomprehensible how someone who has not cooperated with her mental health evaluations or risk assessments and someone who did not show up to her own parole hearing can be released into our community," she said. "I appreciate the support, love and concern that has already been expressed and will work diligently to address the issue of Barzee's release as well as to ensure changes are made moving forward to ensure this doesn't happen to anyone else in the future." -Elizabeth Smart

Smart said she was raped nearly every day during nine months in captivity and forced to drink alcohol, smoke cigarettes and watch Mitchell have sex with his legal wife, Barzee.

She sounds like she is a perfectly stable person to be released back into a community.
 
#21
#21
n_huffhines said:
There are so many questions that need to be answered before you can say **** like "she's dangerous" and so on. She's still crazy and has a manifesto from her prophet? Nobody actually knows this to be true, but say it is...how does that necessarily make her dangerous?
Click to expand...
For crimes this heinous, I'm not really sure that's relevant. This is worse than a crime like driving drunk and paralyzing somebody or even something like armed robbery. The "have they been rehabilitated" question seems more relevant in those cases.

She aided and abetted in the kidnapping and repeated rape of a child. I don't really give a s*** if she has been rehabilitated or not. I don't know if she's still a menace to society or not. It really doesn't matter. Based purely on what she did, it seems reasonable that she be locked up forever, either in a prison or mental health facility. If you do something like that, you're "done" for good as far as I'm concerned.
 
  • Like
Reactions: butchna and goldenvol
#22
#22
05_never_again said:
For crimes this heinous, I'm not really sure that's relevant. This is worse than a crime like driving drunk and paralyzing somebody or even something like armed robbery. The "have they been rehabilitated" question seems more relevant in those cases.

She aided and abetted in the kidnapping and repeated rape of a child. I don't really give a s*** if she has been rehabilitated or not. I don't know if she's still a menace to society or not. It really doesn't matter. Based purely on what she did, it seems reasonable that she be locked up forever, either in a prison or mental health facility. If you do something like that, you're "done" for good as far as I'm concerned.
Click to expand...

You're talking about the length of the sentence that expired, which is sort of a different conversation. I don't disagree with somebody who says she deserves life, she probably does. My comments aren't really about her at all, it's more about the fact that we make baseless judgments pertaining to crime and criminals so frequently.
 
#23
#23
n_huffhines said:
You're talking about the length of the sentence that expired, which is sort of a different conversation. I don't disagree with somebody who says she deserves life, she probably does. My comments aren't really about her at all, it's more about the fact that we make baseless judgments pertaining to crime and criminals so frequently.
Click to expand...
It is sort of a different question, but the question as to whether or not she has been rehabilitated, in this specific instance and for people have committed similar heinous crimes, I think is irrelevant. You are correct that nobody really knows if this lady has been rehabilitated. I don't think it matters, and based on the sickening nature of what she did I don't think she deserves any sort of benefit of the doubt as to whether or not she has been rehabilitated. She should be done for good based purely on the nature of the crime she committed.

Take this lady, the Boston Marathon bomber, or the kid who shot up the church in Charleston. Say hypothetically that it could be known, without a shadow of a doubt, that after some period of time in prison the people who committed these crimes had been "rehabilitated" and were no longer risks to the public at large. Say the Marathon bomber spends 15 years in prison and then we somehow find out he's no longer a risk to anybody, is genuinely sorry, etc. Should they be released from prison or let off death row?
 
#24
#24
There is no claim that she is rehabilitated. They determined that her original state prison release date was incorrectly calculated and released her based on the fact that she had served the complete sentence, based on my reading. She served her sentenced time, basically, and is now free to go.

The sentence was based on her agreement with prosecutors to testify against Mitchell and strengthen their case against him for a life sentence.
 
  • Like
Reactions: n_huffhines
#25
#25
05_never_again said:
Say hypothetically that it could be known, without a shadow of a doubt, that after some period of time in prison the people who committed these crimes had been "rehabilitated" and were no longer risks to the public at large. Say the Marathon bomber spends 15 years in prison and then we somehow find out he's no longer a risk to anybody, is genuinely sorry, etc. Should they be released from prison or let off death row?
Click to expand...

Prisons are intended to serve a few different purposes for society:

- It's a deterrent for potential crimes/criminals (seeking the common good)
- It protects us from dangerous people (seeking the common good)
- It's a rehabilitator (seeking the common good, and this is arguably what we're worst at)
- It's a punishment for past crimes (seeking justice)

"What is justice" is an entirely different question than "what is rehabilitated". You can't just release people because they're rehabilitated, because prison sentences are more than just about rehabilitation. It weakens the deterrent factor and undermines the justice aspect of sentencing.
 
New posts
You must log in or register to reply here.

VN Store



Back
Top