STATE BUDGET CUTS AND FEDERAL COURT ORDERS JEOPARDIZE PUBLIC SAFETY

The nation's financial meltdown has left most of our states grappling with large budget shortfalls. California has been brought to the brink of bankruptcy, not only due to the economic crisis, but also because its Democrat dominated legislature has been on a spending binge for years. They don’t call California the “Welfare State” for nothing. Other states, particular the urban ones, are almost as bad off for the same reasons. Now, the chickens have come home to roost.

So how do these states cut their budgets? One way is to reduce correctional appropriations through the early release of prison inmates, either by early paroles or early discharges from sentences. These early releases come on top of the early releases resulting from federal court orders to reduce the overcrowding almost all of our prison systems have experienced.

Recently, the Los Angeles Police Protective League, LAPD’s union, released some alarming crime predictions on the early release of felons. According to independent research organizations, for every 5,000 felons who receive an early release, 45,500 new crimes will be committed over a three-year period, and 9,000 of those crimes will be violent felonies. Those predictions apply to all states, not just the State of California.

These alarming predictions should serve as a wake-up call for the budget strapped states and for the sanctimonious federal courts and their utopian concerns about prison overcrowding. Early releases, whether through budget cutting paroles and discharges or to comply with federal court orders, are seriously jeopardizing the public’s safety.

Every day, throughout the country, hundreds of parolees and other ex-cons are being arrested for rapes, burglaries, armed robberies and murders. Just read your local newspaper and you’ll see how alarming this situation really is. Many of these offenders are “Parolees At Large,” parolees who could not be located by their parole officers. Others, like sex offender Phillip Garido who kidnapped 11-year-old Jaycee Dugard, raped her repeatedly and held her captive for 18 years, fooled their parole officers into believing they were doing an exemplary parole.

Of course, the early releases are going to be mostly “non-violent” offenders. Oh yeah? The Bureau of Justice Statistics did a nationwide survey in 2004 which showed that 33 % of "non-violent" offenders had an arrest history for violence, 8 % of "non-violent" offenders were in possession of a deadly weapon when they committed their non-violent offense, and 70 % of "non-violent" offenders are arrested within 3 years of their release. The public can ill afford to take comfort in this. You can be sure that today’s non-violent offender may be tomorrow’s rapist, robber or murderer.

In the interest of public safety, the states must find other ways of cutting their budgets. They should continue to provide adequate correctional appropriations and put an end to early prisoner releases. And the federal courts should stop jeopardizing public safety by ordering the release of prisoners in order to solve an unfortunate prison overcrowding problem. When it comes to choosing between prison overcrowding and public safety, there can be only one choice.