Alexandra Zapp, 30, murdered in 2002
Alexandra Zapp, 30, was murdered in 2002 by a sex offender at a bus stop in Bridgewater, Massachusetts. Now her parents are fighting for intelligent laws for violent offenders, not ineffective “headline legislation.”
Andrea Casanova and her husband have partnered with the RAND Corporation and the Ally Foundation, to create a non-profit institution that will focus on analyzing sexual and other violent offenders with an eye toward creating legislation that prevents recidivism.
The Casanovas feel that current legislation is usually based on knee-jerk reactions by politicians after a very public criminal case. This type of legislation is usually pushed through very quickly and garners a lot of headlines, but is usually ineffective at actually preventing crime. The Casanovas feel that this type of “headline legislation” does little actual good for the community and may harm it in some cases.
The new institute will analyze patterns of recidivism and psychological issues related to violent offenders. One of the problems of the current system, they say, is that offenders are released into the public based on the crimes they have committed in the past, not based on individual risk assessment models.
“We are just trying to figure out what really would work,’’ said Andrea Casanova. “I’m hoping it will reset all the standards for how we deal with sexual and violent offenders.’’
Get on the crime map at CrimeReports.com
{ 2 trackbacks }
{ 0 comments… add one now }