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Since Gov. Jerry Brown assumed office in January 2011, a record number of inmates with life sentences are winning parole. Brown has allowed the release of nearly 1,400 lifers, while going along with the parole board about 82 percent of the time.
Brown's predecessor, Arnold Schwarzenegger, authorized the release of 557 lifers during his six-year term, sustaining the board at a 27 percent clip. Before that, Gov. Gray Davis over 3 years approved the release of two.
This dramatic shift in releases under Brown comes as the state grapples with court orders to ease a decades-long prison crowding crisis that has seen triple bunking, prison gyms turned into dormitories and inmates shipped out of state.
Crime victims and their advocates have said the releases are an injustice to the victims and that the parolees could pose a danger to the public. More than 80 percent of lifers are in prison for murder, while the remaining are mostly rapists and kidnappers.
"This is playing Russian roulette with public safety," said Christine Ward, executive director of the Crime Victims Action Alliance. "This is a change of philosophy that can be dangerous."
The few studies of recidivism among released lifers including a Stanford University report show they re-offend at much lower rates than other inmates released on parole and none has been convicted of a new murder.
Of the 860 murderers paroled between 1990 and 2010 that Stanford tracked, only five inmates committed new crimes and none were convicted of murder. The average released lifer is in his mid-50s. Experts say older ex-cons are less prone to commit new crimes than younger ones.
The extremely low recidivism rates do look good, but then again, these are record numbers of 'lifers' being released.
They are walking on thin ice the entire time they are out, and see their parole officers constantly, and if they screw up they know exactly where they are going.
The recidivism rates for them is really the only thing that matters.
Lucid Lunacy
reply to post by boncho
They are walking on thin ice the entire time they are out, and see their parole officers constantly, and if they screw up they know exactly where they are going.
A consequence of them screwing up again being another murdered person?
Lucid Lunacy
reply to post by boncho
They are walking on thin ice the entire time they are out, and see their parole officers constantly, and if they screw up they know exactly where they are going.
A consequence of them screwing up again being another murdered person?
The recidivism rates for them is really the only thing that matters.
edit on 25-2-2014 by Lucid Lunacy because: (no reason given)
A life sentence has become an acceptable punishment not only for murder, but also for a wide variety of other crimes, some of them quite trivial. Under California’s draconian three-strikes laws, people have received 25 years-to-life sentences for minor infractions like stealing pizza from children and stealing change from a parked car. In November 2011, a circuit court judge in Florida sentenced a 26-year-old man whose home computer contained hundreds of pornographic images to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
four-fold typology of homicide offenders: 1) homicide that was precipitated by a general
altercation or argument, 2) homicide during the commission of a felony, 3) domestic violence-related homicide, and 4) a homicide
after an accident. In conclusion, none of the 336 homicide offenders committed another murder.
As I understand it repeat offenses among violent offenders is high. Am I wrong?