prison bars
(File photo)
By John E. Wetzel and Jennifer R. Storm
One year ago - on Sept. 7, 2015 - as the Labor Day celebration began, the lives of hundreds, if not thousands of people were changed in a way none of us could imagine.
Stacey Seldomridge Pennington, of Lebanon County, was stalked and brutally murdered by an individual who deserves no mention.
You see, Stacey trusted the system. And that trust in a broken system cost the 46-year-old mother of two her life.
So how many "Staceys'' are we, as Pennsylvanians, going to be okay with?
Ask the family and friends of Megan Short of Berks County.
She called police earlier this summer because her husband (whom she was leaving) was threatening her. Several days later she, her three young children and her dog, along with the perpetrator, were found dead.
Or the family of Tierne Ewing of Washington County, whose husband was inexplicably given bail and who cut his ankle monitoring bracelet - and who subsequently did exactly what she feared last month: he allegedly kidnapped and murdered her.
It's time to do better. Time to protect those suffering domestic abuse. Time to make better bail decisions. Time to stop locking up low-risk individuals who will be worse because they were locked up for being poor, not for being a risk to public safety.
It's time to eliminate our ineffective bail system here in Pennsylvania and reimagine a system that is effective and truly protects its citizens.
So what should our system look like?
Simple - our bail system should be based on good decisions. We should decide who needs to be incarcerated at the pretrial level based on risk to public safety and not the risk of failing to appear in court.
Our current system fails to achieve that.
Pennsylvanians deserve better and when we know better, we can do better.
That's why Gov. Tom Wolf has tasked the Justice Reinvestment Initiative team to look specifically at how to improve the bail system in Pennsylvania.
We need to examine the process and thoughtfully consider each case as it comes into court.
Is the defendant a potential danger to others or simply unable to pay his bills?
Has the defendant had multiple Protection from Abuse Orders and violated them?
Does the defendant have a mental health issue or substance abuse issue that would allow for purpose-driven diversion rather than incarceration to address the underlying problem? Has the police department engaged the evidence-based Lethality Assessment Program to ensure the victims in the case are fully informed, notified of important events and supported?
We need to fix this broken system and make the changes now.
We need to work with those who want and need our help and take away the power from those who continue to hurt and abuse others.
Pennsylvania needs to restore the trust broken this past year by the deaths of Stacey, Megan and Tierne.
The lives of thousands of others just like them depend upon it.
John E. Wetzel is the Secretary of the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections. Jennifer R. Storm is the Pennsylvania Victim Advocate. They write from Harrisburg.