Why was this Utah lawmaker on ‘Dr. Phil’?

Here’s our interview 👇 with Rep. Tyler Clancy.

 

Utah’s youngest state lawmaker appeared on Thursday’s episode of “Dr. Phil Primetime” to defend the importance of prioritizing victims, not perpetrators, in the criminal justice process.

State Rep. Tyler Clancy, R-Provo, earned the approval of Phil McGraw, one of the country’s most popular talk show hosts, and his audience, when he explained his frustration with policies that enable violent criminals to become repeat offenders.

“We’ve got to a point in our society where when someone commits a crime, we look at the criminal and say, ‘Well, what are these different factors that played into it,’ and completely ignore the innocent public,” Clancy said. “Any criminal justice system that doesn’t begin and end with keeping innocent people safe from repeat violent offenders is a failure.”

Clancy, who at age 27 was recently hired as a detective at the Provo Police Department, received applause when he explained how he had introduced a piece of legislation, HB308, that would ensure victims of crimes are informed throughout the entire judicial process with the help of a full-time victims’ rights coordinator.

Clancy was joined onstage by Candice Cooley, a Utah woman whose 19-year-old son Dylan Rounds was murdered by James Brenner, a violent repeat offender, in 2022. Cooley described what she said sometimes felt like an unserious investigation, which was ultimately followed by an unsatisfying conviction for the perpetrator who had previously served time for attempted murder, and according to some, should have still been in prison.

Please read the entire story, and more from Brigham Tomco at deseretnews.com.