The disappearance of University of North Dakota student Dru Sjodin is a hot news story, and Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty is shamelessly using it to promote the death penalty.

Pawlenty assumed the guilt of the man arrested in connection to the disappearance, Alfonso Rodriguez, Jr., and also assumed the worst for Sjodin’s family. Both actions are reprehensible for a public official.

Pawlenty is inappropriately taking advantage of the emotional connection people developed with this case to promote his political agenda.

His case for the death penalty is that he doesn’t want people who commit sexual assault and murder or attempted murder walking the streets.

Though he has not been found guilty, the release of Rodriguez shows a problem in the criminal justice system. He was a level three sex offender, which means authorities believed he was a high risk to re-offend.

Rodriguez pleaded guilty to rape in 1975, and he was released in May after serving 23 years for kidnapping and assaulting a woman.

He faced a civil commitment hearing in 2001, but a psychologist and a special committee decided not to keep him in custody indefinitely.

While there should be stronger laws preventing sexual predators from walking the streets, the death penalty is not the answer.

There have been cases where people have been executed and later found innocent. For this reason, the power to take a life should not be put in the hands of the government.

There should be stricter laws and longer sentences for people like this man and other sexual predators who might re-offend.

It’s worth the cost of incarceration so people don’t have to worry about being assaulted, kidnapped or killed when they walk the streets.