It is the Board of Parole Hearing’s (BPH) job to determine if offenders pose a danger to public safety before scheduling a release date. Gov. Jerry Brown has approved 80 percent of BPH findings, saying that a prisoner is no danger to public safety and is eligible for released. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger agreed with those findings 25 percent of the time, while Gov. Gray Davis approved only about 2 percent.
Some California crime victim activists voiced frustration at Gov. Brown because he doesn’t reverse BPH decisions the same way as his predecessors.
“It’s a huge jump. We’re talking about some of the most dangerous criminals that were put in prison for a very long time for a very good reason. That number is just very concerning to us,” said Christine Ward, executive director of Crime Victims Action Alliance.
Ward is referring to the 331 times Gov. Brown agreed with the Board of Parole Hearings (BPH) – that a prisoner is eligible for release from prison.
Two recent state Supreme Court rulings said that governors who want to reverse BPH findings of parole eligibility must show some evidence that the prisoner remains a danger to public safety, such as the failure to take responsibility for his crime.
The nature of the original crime is not enough to deny parole.
“The governor has a duty to respect the law but also to uphold public safety. We think he’s struck a balance with these decisions,” said Evan Westrup, a spokesperson for the governor’s office.
The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation’s latest report on post release activities for convicted murders between 1995 and 2011 show that only five new crimes were committed by the 860 who were released.
As of June 2011, California’s lifer population consist of 25,135 lifers with the possibility of parole, 4,303 life without the possibility of parole, 8,780 three strikers, and 715 condemned prisoners.
