SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) - At least 30,000 of California’s 130,000 state inmates could soon be considered for early release, the latest step in an unprecedented five-year effort to reduce California’s prison population, after voters approved a sentencing reform measure championed by Gov. Jerry Brown.
The Democratic governor says Proposition 57 will encourage more rehabilitation and help reverse a mistake he made when he was first governor in the 1970s by giving corrections professionals more say in when inmates are released, restoring balance to the legal code that he says has become overburdened with get-tough policies.
But opponents worry the initiative could cause a spike in crime and create uncertainty about the timing of inmates’ releases.
It will lower the prison population in three ways. It will:
- Allow earlier parole consideration for “nonviolent” inmates.
- Permit the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to give earlier release credits even to inmates convicted of violent crimes, if they complete rehabilitation programs.
- Require that judges, instead of prosecutors, decide whether juvenile offenders should be tried in adult court.
Brown has said the goal is to encourage rehabilitation.
“You can actually earn years off your sentence. You can earn it by good behavior, by really changing your life,” he said before the vote.
Brown posted on his official Twitter account Tuesday night that Californians had “embraced the public safety reforms of #Proposition57. Now it’s up to all of us to make it work.”
Opponents are concerned the measure gives corrections officials too much power to overrule judges’ sentencing decisions.
Merced County District Attorney Larry Morse, who co-chaired the No on 57 campaign, called it “a dangerous measure that will put Californians and our communities at serious risk.”
“For the first time in two decades, crime in California is going up - and now Prop 57 will allow prisoners convicted for domestic violence, human trafficking, assault with a deadly weapon and other violent crimes to be eligible for early release,” San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer, another co-chair, added in a statement.
The nonpartisan state Legislative Analyst’s Office projects that nearly a quarter of inmates could seek earlier parole under the first provision.
They would first have to finish the prison term for their primary offense, without the enhancements that can add years to sentences for things like being a repeat offender or gang member or using a gun during the crime.
Only inmates whose crimes are classified as nonviolent could apply. But under California law, that would exclude only those convicted of about two dozen crimes such as murder and kidnapping.
Opponents cited the case of former Stanford University swimmer Brock Turner, whose sexual assault of an unconscious woman was considered nonviolent under state law. His six-month jail sentence prompted Brown to sign two new laws in September, one requiring longer sentences and the other permitting victims to say in court that they were raped, even if the attack doesn’t meet the technical legal definition.
Inmates’ releases would not be automatic.
The initiative expands on an existing federal court order requiring earlier parole consideration for second-strike offenders convicted of nonviolent and non-sexual crimes. The court order uses a truncated version of the lengthy process used for murderers seeking parole from life prison sentences.
Brown’s administration projects that about 7,000 inmates will be immediately eligible for earlier parole consideration. However, about 5,700 of those already qualify under the court order, so the initiative will speed consideration for an additional 1,300 inmates, about half of whom are likely to be released earlier.
In the long term, the legislative analyst projects that about 7,500 new inmates each year could seek earlier parole.
Corrections officials would take more than a year to develop new regulations before anyone is paroled or before the department awards additional sentencing credits to inmates. And there is no way to project how many inmates would get sentencing credits until the department writes the regulations.
“We would ensure that we protect and enhance public safety,” said department spokeswoman Terry Thornton.
The initiative also reverses voters’ decision in 2000 to let prosecutors decide if juveniles as young as 14 should be tried as adults. Now, judges will decide after a hearing and fewer youths will be eligible for adult courts.
Fewer than 600 teens were sent to adult court last year, most of them automatically or by prosecutors. Judges agreed to transfer fewer than 100 youths to adult court last year.
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