Penn State professor a Texas parolee (for triple murder)

Houston Chronicle ^ | July 25, 2003 | Associated Press

[Ed_in_NJ]

As someone who has been paying through the nose (out-of-state tuition) to send a student there for the last four years, I am not AT ALL happy to learn that they do not bother to check (apparently ANY) employees' backgrounds!

[james19740]

I just wanted to express a word of thanks for your insight on this matter.
By reading the replies on this topic, you would think that our great nation is populated by people that are cold-hearted and unforgiving.

I myself have been in a similar, although less serious situation. I spent 3 years in a state prison for sexullay assaulting my fiance (we had both been doing alot of drugs)and now my life has been turned around due to several different factors:

1) God. I gave my life to him and he has helped me make dramatic changes.

2) The California State Prison System. It was a tough 3 years, but extremly fair.

3) The help of 2 very dear friends I met in prison, both convicted murderer's. Both of these men are in their mid-50's, and had commited their crimes during reckless portions of their lives. They are atoning for their crimes by living in prison, and serving as voices of reason in a sea of cacophony. Both of these men I am proud to call my friends, and would trust (have trusted) my life with.

We as a people need to remember that all people have the potential for good, as well as evil. Just because you have made a mistake (serious or not)does not mean that you are bound to continue making those mistakes. We all have freedom of choice, even in a correctional facility.

I feel that this man has successfully rehabilitated himself(no one can do it for you) and will continue to be rewarded for his dilligence to further the good of our society.

[wyattearp]

>I was an Associate Professor at the premier medical school of the midwest. I was upstanding and pure, solid science. This puke couldn't pick the gum off of my shoes, what the hell is he doing with a faculty appointment? This is the skum we are allowing to teach in the highest educational environment in our nation? We are in deep human excrement!

Thank God you weren't an english teacher!

[Brytani]

This bothers me in so many different ways. His age at the time of the crimes is irrelevant. 3 people no longer have a life because of him. He should not have been allowed to be released.

He was able to receive advanced degrees at tax payer expense because he committed 3 murders. Currently my husband and I are doing without, robbing Peter to pay Paul and paying 100% for me to go back to school full-time and earn my masters degree. We receive no assistance for tuition, books, etc. I have never committed a crime. Now let me say this, I do not expect for society to pay my way through school. I also do not expect to have to pay for convicted felons to receive degrees either.

With all that said, he is obviously a case where rehabilitation can work. He should be given credit for his accomplishments. Still, he has a debt to society and to the family members of the people he murdered that he has not fufilled (in my opinion, not of the justice system).

Hard case to call. We are in a situation in our country where we have hundred of thousands of people in prison. Our prison population is expected to double within the next 10 years. Over 80% of people in prison will be released back into the general population. If we do not push and award rehabilitation, education etc in prison, we are doing nothing but releasing caged animals into our lives.

We have to make the decision. Do we encourage rehabilitation, or allow people to be released into society with no skills except for prison survival?

[Logophile]

By reading the replies on this topic, you would think that our great nation is populated by people that are cold-hearted and unforgiving.

Or perhaps they simply have a strong sense of justice—and the feeling that the punishment did not fit the crime.

As for forgiveness, it would be easy to forgive and forget Paul Krueger. But then, he did no harm to me personally. He did not take my life or the life of someone I know. I am not forced to live with the knowledge that a loved one is cold in the ground while his murderer is enjoying the best this country has to offer, as if nothing happened.

I myself have been in a similar, although less serious situation. I spent 3 years in a state prison for sexullay assaulting my fiance (we had both been doing alot of drugs)and now my life has been turned around due to several different factors:

1) God. I gave my life to him and he has helped me make dramatic changes.

2) The California State Prison System. It was a tough 3 years, but extremly fair.

3) The help of 2 very dear friends I met in prison, both convicted murderer's. Both of these men are in their mid-50's, and had commited their crimes during reckless portions of their lives. They are atoning for their crimes by living in prison, and serving as voices of reason in a sea of cacophony. Both of these men I am proud to call my friends, and would trust (have trusted) my life with.

I am glad you have turned your life around—you are to be commended. For that matter, I am glad that Krueger seems to have reformed his. The difference is that your victim presumably survived your crime. You had the opportunity to make restitution to her, directly or indirectly. (I am sure you have done this.) In contrast, his victims are dead; there is nothing he can do to make restitution to them.

We as a people need to remember that all people have the potential for good, as well as evil. Just because you have made a mistake (serious or not) does not mean that you are bound to continue making those mistakes. We all have freedom of choice, even in a correctional facility.

Mistake? Backing your car into a light pole is a mistake; miscalculating your income taxes is a mistake; misspelling a word is a mistake. The coldblooded murder of three strangers is not a mistake; it is a monstrous crime.

I feel that this man has successfully rehabilitated himself(no one can do it for you) and will continue to be rewarded for his dilligence to further the good of our society.

Even if you are right that he has rehabilitated himself, that is no reason to release him from prison early. He should have remained in prison and completed his entire sentence. To further the good of society, he could have served other prisoners the way your two friends served you in prison.