Criminal charges against repeat offenders should be taken seriously, as is evident in the Patricia Howlett case. The man accused of killing Howlett should not have been on the streets at the time of her murder.

Regardless of whether Jerry Lee Proctor committed the horrible crime, he probably should have been behind bars.

Over the past nine years, he has been charged with numerous crimes, including assaults against his mother and girlfriend. And in 1992, Proctor was charged with attempted rape, but plea bargained a lesser charge. Despite his record, Proctor hasn’t spent a day of his life in prison.

Director of the Iowa Coalition Against Domestic Violence, Laurie Schipper, said of Proctor’s criminal history, “How many times did it get validated for him that he wouldn’t be punished for his violent behavior? We need to make sure that there are consequences for these kinds of action.”

We should be punishing criminals to help deter future crimes and to protect potential victims.

If the state had prosecuted Proctor for the alleged rape, rather than allowing him to make a plea to a lesser charge, he may have been in jail at the time of Howlett’s murder. Even if he is not guilty of Howlett’s murder, his past behavior makes one wonder why he has not served any time in prison, and how long it would have been before someone else suffered for the justice system’s leniency in cases such as this.

The Howlett case exemplifies the need to reconsider the justice system’s treatment of criminals, particularly repeat offenders.