Recent Tragedy at UVA

Recently a 22 year old female student at UVA was allegedly murdered by her boyfriend this week. It is a tragedy that this young girl's life was taken at the hands of another, possibly someone she trusted and maybe she didn't even have the slightest idea that he was capable of killing her. However, there is some recent buzz about addressing the issue of legislation requiring police departments to inform Universities when students are arrested off campus, and/or regulations that require students to disclose criminal background information when applying to attend college. When I first heard of this, I thought, "Oh, here we go, another knee-jerk reaction to try and prevent incidents like this in the future" When the issue may really be education surrounding alcohol use, or maybe even domestic violence prevention and awareness. I am guessing that this young man has had incidents in his past that might have been a risk factor for this violent outburst under the influence. More to the point, the unintended consequences for establishing requirements for disclosing criminal records are great...similar to those returning from jail or prison and trying to become a productive citizen. Instead of trying to judge people by what they have done, why not try and provide a supportive environment to provide individuals with the tools to become successful? We may never know what really happened to Yeardly Love, except for what her alleged murderer tells the court--he is now likely facing a life sentence. I just don't know the answer lies in creating more laws that in turn create more barriers.