by Edwin Meese III

About the author: Edwin Meese III, a former attorney general of the United States, is the Ronald Reagan Fellow in Public Policy at the Heritage Foundation.

On Oct. 1, 1993, Polly Klaas was kidnapped at knifepoint from her Petaluma, Calif., home, where she had been enjoying a sleep-over with two teenage girlfriends. Subsequently she was found dead on a road about 45 miles from her house—strangled. The man identified in court documents as the killer had been convicted repeatedly of the most serious and dangerous crimes, including kidnapping, robbery, burglary and assault. Yet he was released from prison a few months before Polly’s murder, serving only half of the 16-year sentence for his most recent felony.

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