The Philadelphia doctor’s clinic is a sign of what is to come if legitimate and safe abortions become inaccessible.

Dr. Kermit Gosnell delivered live babies and killed them. These were not legal abortions. They were infanticides, no question.

A Philadelphia jury convicted Gosnell this week of first-degree murder, infanticide and racketeering, among other charges. It was a just verdict. He agreed to forgo an appeal in exchange for a life sentence rather than face the possibility of getting the death penalty.

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Associated Press

By Christopher Strom

Looking on the recent terrorist attack that occurred in Boston, it’s clear that the lessons from the past continue to persist unabated in our intelligence organizations.

After the terrorist attack of 9/11, then President George W. Bush sought enactment of the U.S. Patriot Act (Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act of 2001), which was signed into law October 2001.

This vital and ever-evolving law allowed federal law enforcement to monitor terrorist activity both inside the United States and around the world in order to keep us all safe.

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Strom, of Roanoke, is a former U.S. Marine, retired sergeant from the NYPD Intelligence Divisions Counter Terrorism Unit. He served in Iraq as the lead tactical debriefing officer and continues to instruct on domestic/counter terrorism strategies to U.S. special forces, law enforcement and colleges.

Mary Davye Devoy

For years, victims’ rights groups and advocates have been given free rein to repeatedly tell their stories, push through rarely questioned state and federal legislation, and receive unlimited media attention.

Crime victims lead the charge in mandatory minimum sentences, stripping judges and juries of the ability to implement punishments based on the facts and circumstances of individual cases. They have lowered the threshold of defining what is a crime, assisted in making the standards of guilt easier, increased and expanded punishments, and approved of prosecutors holding all the cards when it comes to piling on charges.

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Devoy is a volunteer advocatefor data-driven reform of Virginia’ssex offender registry and laws.

by Victoria Cobb and Mallory Quigley

The trial of Kermit Gosnell has shaken the conscience of our nation.

The abortionist, currently awaiting judgment in a Philadelphia courtroom, is charged with the murder of four newborn infants, whom he allegedly killed with scissors after they’d been born alive, as well as with the death of a Virginia woman.

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Cobb is the president of The Family Foundation Action. Quigley is the communications director for Susan B. Anthony List, which is affiliated with Women Speak Out Virginia.

Wikimedia Commons

By Donna Acquaviva

A few weeks ago, this newspaper reported the happy news that yard sale season is beginning and advised that you can read its classified ads to find them.

So now here’s some advice for those of you who’ll be offering such sales. There are people out there just waiting for you to list your sale so they can swoop in and do their thing. Last fall, I was a victim.

As “Monk,” the neurotic police detective, likes to say, “Here’s what happened.”

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Acquaviva is a writer who lives in Roanoke. She no longer has a yard, so no sales. She is grateful.

Will chef dish on Cuccinelli?

Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli scored a procedural victory Thursday when a Richmond judge agreed to recuse his office from prosecuting the embezzlement case against a former chef at the Virginia governor’s mansion.

But if the case proceeds to trial this summer, it may continue to dog Cuccinelli and raise questions about his judgment as he runs for governor. . . .

No crying in Bedford . . . or else

When a public official feels compelled to clarify what she meant when complaining about the “crap” (stuff or nonsense) she has taken from some school teachers, it’s appropriate to include some acknowledgement that she failed to do her part to elevate the level of public discourse in her community.

Bedford County Supervisor Annie Pollard invited criticism last week when she described several teachers as “crybabies” because they had the temerity to attend a public hearing and speak in favor of a 3 percent raise for school employees. Her attempt at damage control via an emailed statement lacked any semblance of an apology for her name-calling, potty-mouthed outburst, and thus it had the opposite effect.  . . .

Festivities on every corner

Much of Elmwood Park is under renovation as the spring festival season kicks off this weekend. Rather than view the shifting venues as an inconvenience, festival-goers should take the chance to circulate and explore other corners of Roanoke’s downtown as well as other host sites around the region. . . .

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Mary Devoy, who wrote a Point/Counterpoint arguing for reform of Virginia’s sex offender registry March 31, sent along this Politifact link to bolster her case.

It’s about Ohio’s registry, but cites studies about the impact of registries overall. Perhaps most germane to the recent local controversy in Botetourt County is this:

”

Another study, by J.J. Prescott of the University of Michigan Law School and Jonah Rockoff of Columbia Business School and the National Bureau of Economic Research, examined data from 15 states over more than 10 years.

They found that registering sex offenders does reduce sex crime, especially among victims with a personal connection to offenders, most likely because of better police monitoring.  They also found, however, that making the registry information available to the public has the opposite effect and increases crime.

“There is little evidence of a decrease in crimes against strangers,” the study said. “We also find evidence that community notification deters crime, but in a way unanticipated by legislators. Our results suggest that community notification deters first-time sex offenders, but may increase recidivism by registered offenders by increasing the relative attractiveness of criminal behavior. This finding is consistent with work by criminologists showing that notification may contribute to recidivism by imposing social and financial costs on registered sex offenders and, as a result, making non-criminal activity relatively less attractive.

“We regard this latter finding as potentially important, given that the purpose of community notification is the reduction of recidivism,” the authors concluded.

The U.S. judicial system should remain intact as the case against Dzhokhar Tsarnaev moves forward.

It should give all Americans satisfaction to know that the suspect in the Boston Marathon bombing was identified, tracked down and captured Friday thanks to law enforcement efforts led by the Federal Bureau of Investigation but with ample help from Boston’s own police force.

The next step must be for Dzhokhar Tsarnaev to be tried before a jury in federal court.

President Obama on Monday rightly resisted rash calls for Tsarnaev to be treated as an enemy combatant or even hauled off to the Guantánamo Bay detention camp.

Due process is not an inconsequential element of the U.S. judicial system. It lies at the core of our society’s values, values generating such antipathy that evildoers last week murdered innocent women and a young child and injured many more in soulless violence. We must respond by reaffirming our core beliefs, not disposing of them in a boiling rage.  . . .

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A town police officer and a college security guard patrolled the New River Community College’s Christiansburg satellite facility Wednesday morning, five days after a shooting that injured an employee and a student.

The beefed-up security presence probably brought some comfort to students and employees as they resumed classes at the college’s New River Valley Mall location for the first time since the April 12 shooting. It’s not clear how long that presence will be maintained. But college officials are taking the prudent step of evaluating security in the aftermath of the shooting.

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By Rhonda Seltz

I was quite shocked when I discovered that 138 Republicans, including Reps. Morgan Griffith and Bob Goodlatte, did not vote to reauthorize the Violence Against Women Act. They have cited concerns with the stipulation that allows Native American tribal government to prosecute non-tribal members accused of violence against native women.

I am still perplexed by that explanation, as this new provision actually ensures that anyone who sexually assaults a Native American woman on reservation land is prosecuted. If an American commits a crime in another country, he is prosecuted by that country’s government. Tribal government should have the same option, especially given the fact that rates of violence against Native American women are much higher than those of non-native women.

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Seltz is a community activist who lives in Riner.