Under Governor Jerry Brown, Californian inmates sentenced to life in prison have been released in droves. Since taking the gubernatorial office in January 2011, Brown has overseen the discharge of 1,400 'lifers.'
Brown has been sustaining the parole board's decisions in 82 percent of cases, a marked contrast to the previous governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger, who only allowed the release of 557 prisoners. The exponential increase in releases is a consequence of California's teeming penal facilities, with the population of life prisoners tripling in the past 20 years, due to the state of California deigning governors with veto powers, thus enabling them to make the final decision on lifers' parole terms.
Lifers make up around a quarter of California's incarcerated population; though following two key court rulings in 2008, it's likely that the number of releases will continue to rise. Proposition 9 - also known as Marsy's Law - vested prisoners with the right to be present at their own parole hearings. Also in 2008, California's Supreme Court ruled that prisoners facing the possibility of parole have their circumstances gauged by their present threat to the community at large. Those with a lower perceived risk of re-offending were more likely to be released.
"If an individual is eligible for parole and the board determines they are no longer a threat, the law says they must be paroled unless there is firm evidence indicating they are still a threat," said Evan Westrup, a spokesperson for Governor Brown's office. Though research is limited, the recidivism rates of released lifers appear dramatically lower than other inmates released on parole. A 2011 study from the Stanford Criminal Justice Center, entitled Life After Limbo: An Examination of Parole Release for Prisoners Serving Life Sentences with the Possibility of Parole in California, concludes the following, as per the Stanford Law School's breakdown: "interim information suggests that the incidence of commission of serious crimes by recently released lifers has been minuscule, and as compared to the larger inmate population, recidivism risk--at least among those deemed suitable for release by both the Board and the Governor--is minimal."
With victim advocacy groups lambasting Brown's actions, the governor claims that his hands are tied by the court rulings. "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."
Conversely, Johanna Hoffman, lawyer for several lifers, appears positive for the future of the released inmates. "It's been a remarkable and unexpected change," she said. "The overcrowding issue has a huge amount to do with it."
