The local news does a great job of laying out, in great detail, every crime that the reporters and their cameras can get to. They can't get enough of it ... going for a local "Cops" or "America's Most Wanted" all the time. While crime exists, and certainly is devastating for many people, I don't think it's some sleeper issue that needs to be brought into the open. To the contrary, I think a lot of people start to live in fear of crimes that, from a statistical standpoint, are not likely to happen to them. In my view, as a society we should devote significant resources both to the prevention of crime, and to helping victims through the pain caused by crime; but we shouldn't waste any more breath or ink spreading sensational (terrible word in context, I know) crime stories.

I like crime stories.

Being forewarned is forearmed! Literally!

Yeah, but I'm not talking about crime in general. I'm talking about the specific act of murder. I agree with you wholeheartedly about addressing the causes of crime and the after effects, but I still think we as a society would be well served by looking at what makes us kill each other. Mental illness, poverty, anger, the pressures of our lives, drug abuse, whatever -- by using murder as the starting point, we can back out and really work on finding solutions to the source of so many problems. That's what I'm trying to say.

Re: fear - I don't think people (the ones I personally know anyway) worry that much about personal crime. And I do count on good reporters like Sue Palmer to find out the facts for me. Knowing that a murder like this took place in my community wakes me up to the fact I need to get cracking and trying to do what I can to help. That's a benefit to responsible reporting, I think. Just my two cents - and I appreciate the comments. Thanks. It's an important issue.

This should be on a Fox News post.

Actually, conservatives see it as a big issue - especially when liberal judges give light sentences, and liberal efforts go full-force to keep such murderers from getting the death penalty.

You have in society that which you have wished for - sad, huh?

I read Mary's post, and then when I read the comments ahead of mine, I went back and read it again, trying to see if there were something I could possibly have missed that would make her post either (1) a "liberal" vs. "conservative" matter, (2) a discussion of whether people are afraid of being a crime victim, or (3) a question of sensationalist "journalism" (which I will readily admit exists; it's one reason I no longer own a television.)

The issues I saw Mary raising are much deeper than any of these. They have to do with the value of human life; the effects of living in this incredibly complex, crowded, and stressful world; and the extent to which we need to be willing to look at those effects and deal with them.

Mary wrote: And what about the larger issues left behind by murder? How many people are wounded psychologically, emotionally, and economically by the murder of a loved one? How far do the ripples reach every time one of us kills another?

I read Mary's post as a thoughtful and heartfelt invitation to step out of the prevailing paradigm, which revolves around tinkering with the criminal justice system and the proper role of the judiciary. With all due respect to my fellow commenters, what I've seen so far here are some pretty superficial responses to very deep questions. Actually, not even superficial, but more like, "I don't want to look at it, I don't want to deal with it." Which kind of illustrates one of the points of Mary's column.

Thanks, Kitty. I was wondering if my communications skills had failed me. I'm sorry in this instance that this kid found his solution to homelessness through murder, ie, he now has a place to live for the rest of his life. My hope is that, if we could deal with the issues that lead to murder beforehand, we could end the cruel cycle of misery that murder sets in motion. To my mind, that's not a Fox News way of thinking. I actually thought it was kind of "progressive," but the comments do illustrate how hard it is to think of the issue this way. I guess I am asking for a paradigm shift, which could just be wishful thinking.

“Her hands had been pulled up behind her head and police believed that both of her shoulders were either broken or dislocated.”

Sorry if I upset anyone but sometimes reality can be just a little discomforting.

Being a progressive (or conservative) doesn’t mean being devoid of empathy for a woman who died a horrible death she didn’t deserve. To quote statistical possibilities concerning the chances of this happening to any individual profoundly misses the point to a degree that is stunning.

I am far less concerned with the root causes of such a violent act than insuring the perpetrator never gets a chance to repeat the offense, or anything close to it, again. This case is a prime candidate for the death penalty or, at a minimum, life in prison without parole. Anything less would only serve to devalue Ms. Larsen’s humanity and jeopardize safety in society.

Thanks Mary for bringing this to our attention.

I made a post regarding Karen Minnis addressed "Hey Gresham Voters;" that made a wonkette point out that the small town voters weren't interested in being lumped in with Gresham, which I took to mean they don't have a Rockwood Neighborhood to be ashamed of.

The gang era that evolved like a social alarm clock out of the crack epidemic of the 80's created a national backlash in the form of urban renewal. This created neighborhoods that were diverse economically to finely groomed upper-middle class developments that just pushed the problems into suburban neighborhoods that were becoming de-populated by parents whom raised their children, and want to be closer to the city and services they provide.

What resulted were suburbia becoming our slums, and a tax base that moved away, or became old and dependant on government services. Gresham is a microcosm of a suburban ghetto that seems easy to ignore because of surrounding towns that have made them priced out of the problem. They don't mind the police being overwhelmed in Rockwood, because they don't have to live with, or even see the results. These issues are not issues until they're on your door step.

Well when you voters answer the door on April 29th, 2006 to a canvasser for the Democratic Candidate for Karen Minnis's seat in the House, remember the next election maybe too late to prevent that knock being a house invasion. The problem doesn’t go away by urban renewal of an old neighborhood for people whom can't afford the renewal. We need a government that promotes a balance of urban development which includes responsible and balanced policing, schools, and public services.

People in your city need to know that those services are as available to the apartment dwellers as it is to there absentee landlord from West Linn. The consequences are what we are experiencing now in the increase of grandparents raising children in over crowded homes of children raising children with little hope of an economic future other than the fast food industry.

Poverty, desperation, and a sense of futility seen in the young men and women coming from these circumstances are the drug addicts, and frustrated young that feel compelled to these despicable acts.

When you vote in November remember those so profound Libertarians, and Republican businessmen whom would vilify taxes used to educate these same young people whom fill our jails, prisons, hospitals. These same young people whom fill foster homes with desperate children of meth that tax our society at every level. They are lost, not because they are week, or deficient in some way, they have maliciously been maligned by a stupid callous need for tax relief from taxes those same Republicans benefited from to become wealthy to begin with.

We as citizens have forsaken a generation to mediocrity or worse, and instead of looking inward for the benefit of our young, therefore our future, we would rather blame the symptoms, and continue to do that which fostered the disease.

We are a nation, state, county, city, and neighborhood that needs it citizens to stand up and accept we have a community responsibility to protect, preserve, and prepare our next generation to carry us into a future worth living.

Happy Thoughts;

Dan Grady

SAVE DEMOCRACY, AND VOTER FOR A DEMOCRAT!

Whoops, forgot.

Yay Doretta! It is a sad commentary that this sort of issue kills our empathy. Certainly I do not think the person who committed this crime should ever walk free in society again, but what was it that drove them to this horrendous act? We sit in our comfortable chairs in our comfortable offices and try to reason out what causes this kind of violence when in reality we don't have a clue. We need to work on solving the problems of poverty and homelessness in this country before we become controlled by knee jerk reactions such as the death penalty to these crimes. Poverty, hunger, homelessness, these are the biggest contributing factors to crime. They cross all racial barriers. It does not make any sense to me that in this country every citizen doesn't have a stable home, food in their belly, and access to health care. I am not talking fancy, just basic. Call me a socialist, but what are my taxes going to anyway? Our society is reminding me more and more of the movie "Running Man" which was a cheezy vehicle for Arnie, but was also prophetic in the way it portrayed the haves and the have nots. We get all information from communication technology and don't go out into our communities and get a dose of reality. This murder is a terrible tragedy and a very sad comment on where our society as a whole is headed.

If the root question/issue raised in this post is not "let's give more attention to murders," but is instead "shouldn't our society be concerned about why people murder," then I agree that it poses an interesting and broad sociological question. Why do our peer countries have murder rates that are so much lower than our own (even Canada, which has more guns)? It's obviously multi-faceted. There are mentally ill people. There are gang members. There are desperate people with no hope, and murder is no worse than suicide. There are drug addicts.

If that's the question, then yes, I would like those in relevant agencies of government to be answering the broad question. But I still think it's harmful for this to be a question that intersects with politics. When focus on crime intersects with politics, we get Measure 11, we get "tough on crime" slogans that drive up the costs of running our criminal justice system and do little in the way of prevention.

From a BlueOregon perspective, then, I would like people to daily think about why people murder, and what can/should be done to stop it; but I'm not interested in foisting the question on politicians, or to otherwise make it a political issue.

<h2>Nice entry. Although, quite sad in a way. Still it has a perfect crime touch to it. Like a revealing murderer hiden as a regular. Great!</h2>