The Alexander Family Murders

Paul Ciotti’s coverage on the Alexander family murders accomplishes an important goal: to show how crime affects a family from an insider’s viewpoint. Too often, there is merely news coverage on how crime affects society as a whole, not how it can alter the lives of those involved.

This insight is crucial if we hope to make our justice system more effective. In efforts to stem overcrowding of jails, loopholes in the legal system will be sought out--lighter sentences, legal technicalities--to release inmates. Consequently, extreme offenders will eventually go free. Tiequon Cox and Darren Williams have received the death penalty, which here in California is not meted out often enough. However, now that Rose Bird is out of office, hopefully this will change.

Clint Lohr

Glendale