The Opinion Blog

Kids' Parole Board: Vacancy, or Vacate?

Friday's editorial takes a look at the problems facing the Juvenile Parole Board:

Decrying what he saw as a broken system inadequate to deal with a new generation of evil, Greg Killian of Myrtle Beach resigned his post at the state Juvenile Parole Board this month and called for its abolition. His frustration - while possibly an extreme position formed after five years of fighting on the front lines - raises one of society's most vexatious challenges: how to deal with the worst of the worst among our children.

After the board released a teen convicted in a controversial and tragic drag-racing death, Killian resigned, saying when the juvenile parole board was first established, the types of crimes that now come before it were never envisioned: gang-initiation killings, children raping other children, what he called a dozen or so unredeemable "super-predators" who showed up every month. The justice system for children is usually based on rehabilitation rather than punishment, but Killian says that dichotomy should be abandoned.

Get going on Gitmo, President Obama

Ripped from the wires ... The Philadelphia Inquirer greets the Obama presidency with this editorial seeking the quick closure of the Guantanamo Bay detention camp:

With an executive order directing the shutdown of the Guantanamo Bay detention camp in Cuba, incoming President Barack Obama would signal that needed reform is coming to U.S. antiterror strategies.

While Obama celebrates his historic inauguration, his Guantanamo order could come as soon as this week.