Stabbing death of Brianna Kupfer by homeless man in Southern California

If more law abiding citizens who by local laws are not allowed to carry weapons concealed or open carry and want to survive violent confrontations should really think about adopting the "I'd rather be judged by 12 then carried by 6" mindset. Not condoning this but survival is survival plain and simple.
 

dseag2 said:
Such a beautiful girl, and such a senseless crime. Why wasn't this POS locked up?

https://abcnews.go.com/US/suspect-identified-slaying-24-year-woman-la-furniture/story?id=82347326
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It costs money to keep criminals locked up. Their housing, food & medical care has to be paid for - including any psychiatric medication they take. And building more prisons is not a priority.
Releasing them is a cost-cutting measure. Even the Manson murderers were approved for parole. So was Sirhan; if the Governor didn't step in, he would be free now. As inmates age, their upkeep costs go up. That's when they are suddenly declared "Rehabilitated" or
"No longer a danger." That's why rapist Bill Cosby was recently released; he's old & expensive to house. That's why O.J. Simpson was released after serving 9 years of a 33-year sentence. Of course, they won't give the true reasons; they make up some "Legal" reason.

"Shawn Laval Smith, the suspected killer of 24-year-old UCLA grad student Brianna Kupfer, has a decade-long criminal history that spans both coasts."
 
The article doesn't make it clear what happened to him after police spotted him on the bench, unless I overlooked something. I can't fathom that he would have been let go. I wonder if he's mentally ill ? My question when these things happen is always WHY?! She was a beautiful girl who seemed to have a good life to look forward to. I feel so sorry for her parents, family and friends. This is such a tragedy and I hope he gets punished to the full extent of the law.
 
simply no reason ... does not look like robbery ..... to randomly stab a person for no appearance of motive ....with high chance of being caught shows a complete lack of thinking and frankly prison would not fix that.
 
Jules said:
Small businesses like this might start putting access controlled entries on their doors. Many jewellery stores do.
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Bad idea that seems like a good idea at first. My bank installed these, but removed them after several customer complaints.
If an armed robber wanted to get into a store with a secure controlled entrance, would he have to look like an armed robber? If he looked like a regular customer, how would a store employee decide whether or not to let him in.

Let's say you're in a store & armed robbers get in. The doors then lock - trapping you in the store with angry armed criminals who may start shooting when they realize they can't get out. Such shootouts occur in jewelry stores. I wouldn't want to be there in the middle of a bloodbath.
That's why I told my bank's manager, "Get rid of these doors or I'm banking elsewhere."
 
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OneEyedDiva said:
The article doesn't make it clear what happened to him after police spotted him on the bench, unless I overlooked something. I can't fathom that he would have been let go. I wonder if he's mentally ill ? My question when these things happen is always WHY?! She was a beautiful girl who seemed to have a good life to look forward to. I feel so sorry for her parents, family and friends. This is such a tragedy and I hope he gets punished to the full extent of the law.
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He is likely mentally ill. We don't treat or house mentally ill people - also to cut costs. They now roam the streets everywhere.
 
Obviously this type of crime is horrible. But this type of crime is incredibly rare in the general population and equally rare in the homeless population.

The US Government keeps extensive crime statistics through the Department of Justice.

News media loves the extreme stories that attract viewers.

But the reality is very boring. The reality is that extreme types of crime are, in fact, extremely rare.


As far as solutions go? Our society simply refuses to properly fund mental health services. If they did, individuals like this would be caught long, long before their illness became criminal. Many of these individuals would be identified as pre-teens.

But, we don't want to fund projects. The end result is always the same thing. We lose a dollar, by trying to save a penny.

As an example of our absolute refusal to engage any common sense...we now have about 100,000 soldiers from Mid-East battle situations, coming back into our society with PTSD. These are individuals, professionally trained in martial arts and in firearms, who now have illnesses that can make them volatile and violent (unlike the population of the homeless, these individuals do have a higher percentage of committing violent offenses). And yet, at best we probably give them about 5% of the care that they truly need.

I stopped two vets in full blown PTSD episodes...and at significant risk to my safety. All they needed was the tiniest bit of proper care. But we just leave them to rot. Horrible.
 
win231 said:
He is likely mentally ill. We don't treat or house mentally ill people - also to cut costs. They now roam the streets everywhere.
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I agree if someone who has psychiatric issues commits a crime they should be treated in a Psychiatric Facility such as a place that is in my area like Sheppard Pratt Hospital. A facility such as this is much more equipped then just putting them in jail.
 
win231 said:
It costs money to keep criminals locked up. Their housing, food & medical care has to be paid for - including any psychiatric medication they take. And building more prisons is not a priority.
Releasing them is a cost-cutting measure. Even the Manson murderers were approved for parole. So was Sirhan; if the Governor didn't step in, he would be free now. As inmates age, their upkeep costs go up. That's when they are suddenly declared "Rehabilitated" or
"No longer a danger." That's why rapist Bill Cosby was recently released; he's old & expensive to house. That's why O.J. Simpson was released after serving 9 years of a 33-year sentence. Of course, they won't give the true reasons; they make up some "Legal" reason.

"Shawn Laval Smith, the suspected killer of 24-year-old UCLA grad student Brianna Kupfer, has a decade-long criminal history that spans both coasts."
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I have to agree that keeping a person a prisoner is hugely expensive. While most want to "lock 'em up forever", nobody is dying to pay forever increasing taxes forever, either. Most criminals do age out, and some do go on to commit more crimes. There's no magic Ouija board that tells which is which.
 
fuzzybuddy said:
I have to agree that keeping a person a prisoner is hugely expensive. While most want to "lock 'em up forever", nobody is dying to pay forever increasing taxes forever, either. Most criminals do age out, and some do go on to commit more crimes. There's no magic Ouija board that tells which is which.
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It's more a problem of corruption in the parole system than simply "Not enough money."
A non-fiction movie dealt with that topic - "Marie."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marie_(1985_film)

Marie (also known as Marie: A True Story) is a 1985 American biographical film starring Sissy Spacek as Marie Ragghianti, former head of the Tennessee Board of Pardons and Paroles, who was removed from office in 1977 after refusing to release prisoners on whose behalf bribes had been paid to aides to Governor Ray Blanton. Ragghianti, a single mother and political appointee, was hounded for refusal to cooperate with the culture of corruption with which she found herself confronted.
 
Irwin said:
Brianna's father went on Fox News and politicized the death of his daughter. That, too, is pretty despicable.

Society is breaking down. Things fall apart. The center cannot hold.
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It was already political. Imagine his grief! The culprit had a rap sheet as long as your arm and yet he was let out on a $1000 bond. “Progressive” policies at work. Society is breaking down because of wrong headed policies that let criminals go free.
 
Rah-Rah said:
I agree if someone who has psychiatric issues commits a crime they should be treated in a Psychiatric Facility such as a place that is in my area like Sheppard Pratt Hospital. A facility such as this is much more equipped then just putting them in jail.
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But the catch is, what if they don't want help and refuse help?
I don't know how widespread it is, but individuals cannot be 'made to' accept or cooperate with treatment.
 

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