Legislation has been introduced that would allow the parole board to give considerably more weight to the crime and the criminal history of a life prisoner before granting parole.
The legislation, SB 391, would undo a court ruling that says a life prisoner’s crime can be a consideration for parole decisions, but it cannot be the sole reason for denial.
The bill’s target is the 2008 California Supreme Court’s In Re Lawrence decision.
“The law is a straight out example of governing through crime, i.e., the fact that the Legislature can imagine only more punishment, no matter how irrational, cruel or degrading to both prisoner and society,” said Jonathan Simon, a law professor at the University of California at Berkeley.
“I intend to blog on this. No issue is more important now in California than increasing parole eligibility and making sure the board actually paroles candidates,” said Simon.
Simon is author of “Governing Through Crime,” which chronicles the relationship between criminal justice and politics.
