Crimes

Two horrifying crimes have exposed serious weaknesses in Connecticut's criminal justice system. But a "three strikes and you're out" law proposed by Gov. M. Jodi Rell and Republicans in the Legislature would do more harm than good. Last July two recently paroled men broke into a home in Cheshire and tortured and murdered three people. Last month a man who served more than eight years for assaulting a 5-year-old - and had been out on probation for less than a month - broke into a New Britain home. He accosted two women, wounding one and killing the other. Republicans, led by Ms. Rell, have responded by calling for a "three strikes" law.