Gov. Brown Allows Parole For 106 Convicted Killers
SACRAMENTO (KCBS) -- California Gov. Jerry Brown has adopted a parole policy far more lenient than his predecessors, blocking the parole orders of only 27 convicted killers facing life sentences since taking office in January.
Former Gov. Gray Davis let just 9 of 374 convicted killers out of prison during his entire term. While in office, now ex-governors Arnold Schwarzenegger and Pete Wilson reversed about 30 percent of the parole board's decisions in order to keep murderers in custody.
Brown has so far allowed 106 of the 130 inmates who requested parole, decisions Robert Weisberg of the Stanford Criminal Justice Center saw in purely economic terms.
"It's unbelievably expensive to keep in state prison an elderly prisoner," he said.
"If you trade that off against the rather minimal likelihood that a 70-year-old parolee is going to commit a violent crime, then the governor's interpretation reasonably takes into account both public safety and state economic needs," Weisberg said.
KCBS' Susan Kennedy Reports:
In most cases where the parole board recommends release, the inmate has already served decades in prison and demonstrated reform, Weisberg said.
That's cold comfort for a murder victim's family, or for victims who have survived brutal crimes, said Christine Ward of Crime Victims Alliance.
"Disappointed is the best word I can come up with," she said.
Ward cited a case where the victim of an attempted murder fled the country upon learning that the man who tried to kill her had been freed on parole.
Ward said her organization would conduct its own review of every case where Brown allowed parole.
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