A suspect allegedly beat a man to death near Boston Common early Wednesday, then walked free for hours before clubbing a second victim with a metal pole in downtown Boston — the entirely predictable cost of a criminal justice system that refuses to keep dangerous people off the streets.

This is what happens when the system prioritizes the perpetrator's liberty over the public's safety. A man is dead. Another is hospitalized. And the only reason it stopped is that police happened to catch the suspect still carrying his weapon after the second attack.

Around 5:20 a.m., Boston police found a man suffering from trauma at the intersection of Tremont and Boylston streets, near the MBTA Boylston Green Line station, according to Boston.com. He was pronounced dead at Tufts Medical Center. His name hasn't been released. Less than five hours later, just before 10 a.m., a second victim was struck from behind with a metal pole at JFK Surface Road and Beach Street, police said. The second victim survived but was taken to a hospital. Authorities arrested a suspect carrying a metal pole nearby and determined he was responsible for both incidents.

The suspect is Ashlie Jeremie, 27, of Bedford, charged with murder, assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, and larceny under $1,200, according to Boston police.

Boston.com and NBC10 Boston reported the bare facts — the attacks, the arrest, the charges. Neither outlet asked the question that matters: why was Jeremie free to wander downtown Boston at 5 a.m. in the first place? No mention of prior record, outstanding warrants, or whether he'd been released under the state's lenient bail policies. The silence is the story.

The same pattern plays out across the country. In Albuquerque, Charles Richards, 36, was charged with murder, kidnapping, and conspiracy after surveillance footage showed him chasing a man into the middle of Central Avenue and shooting him over a debt, the Albuquerque Journal reported. Richards was wearing an ankle monitor at the time — the kind of supervision that is supposed to protect the public but instead served as a tracking device to confirm what police already knew: the system let him walk.

In Eugene, Oregon, a 56-year-old man with a history of burglary and robbery charges was arrested for dealing fentanyl and methamphetamine from his hut at a city-sponsored "Safe Sleep" site near an elementary school, the Register-Guard reported. Officers found a stolen handgun and a short-barreled ghost AR-15 on the premises. A repeat offender, given transitional housing next to a school, apparently used it as a base for narcotics distribution. The Register-Guard noted his criminal history in passing; it didn't ask why he was there instead of behind bars.

In Colorado Springs, Jabrison Kinchen, 33, was arrested a full month after allegedly robbing a business at gunpoint in June — and was caught only because officers spotted him approaching another business in what they called a manner "consistent with an attempted robbery," KRDO reported. He had a gun on him when arrested.

The connecting thread is a system that keeps putting people back on the street who have demonstrated they belong in a cell. Boston's dead man didn't have to die. Albuquerque's shooting victim didn't have to be hunted down on a public street. The policies that freed their attackers have names and sponsors. The press won't name them.

The question isn't why Jeremie attacked again. The question is who decided he shouldn't be stopped before he had the chance.