The California Supreme Court ruled that thousands of convicted sex offenders may be eligible for early release from prison under a ballot measure that voters approved four years ago.
The ballot measure is referred to as Proposition 57. It was written by then-Governor Jerry Brown (D. Nearly two-thirds of the electorate passed the measure. The intent of the initiative was to reduce the state’s prison population, saying any person guilty of a “nonviolent felony offense” would be eligible for early parole. Brown said he never intended for it to include sex offenders. But the original language did not specifically exclude them. Lower appeals courts had ruled that nonviolent sex offenders could not be excluded, and the high court confirmed those rulings.
“The initiative’s language provides no indication that the voters intended to allow the (Corrections) Department to create a wholesale exclusion from parole consideration based on an inmate’s sex offense convictions when the inmate was convicted of a nonviolent felony,” wrote Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye in the court’s 7-0 decision.
According to The Associated Press, “the ballot measure allows officials to consider paroling inmates convicted of nonviolent crimes after they have served their basic sentence and before they have completed sometimes lengthy additional terms for enhancements for things like using a gun, having prior criminal convictions, or being involved in a street gang.”
California law classifies sex crimes “like rape, sodomy, and continuous sexual abuse of a child” as violent offenses, but “pimping, incest, indecent exposure and possessing child pornography” are not.
Prosecutors warned voters that the ballot measure was “so sloppily and poorly drafted” it would “wreak havoc on public safety.”
As the San Francisco Chronicle reports, the CDCR had “prohibited the board from considering early release for inmates serving time for a conviction that required registration as a sex offender,” and
“On Monday, the state’s high court ruled unanimously that the department’s regulations were unauthorized by Prop. 57. As of 2018, the state rules barred about 4,400 inmates from being considered for early parole.”
A CDCR spokeswoman told The Chronicle that the ruling “does not mean that sex offenders will automatically be released to the community.” She also said that the parole board would “assess their case factors individually, including whether they continue to propose a public safety risk.”
Sacramento attorney Janice Bellucci, who is also the executive director of the Alliance for Constitutional Sex Offense Laws, argued the case. She called the decision “a significant victory” for incarcerated people convicted of sex crimes.
What’s new Bill has never been to prison. Democrats aren’t afraid of each other since the large majority of them in government are sex offenders.
Shi t state shit people shit phony hollywood.Disgrace place !ALL IS TRUE. An they know it!
You release these bad people and they come to our state its open season on pedophiles.
California never ceases to amaze me with their liberal laws and policies,so glad they are on the other side of the country.
Put a fence around that state and let them kill each other.
Anyone convicted of a crime should serve their full sentence. That’s justice.
Stupid State with a dump ass Governor that should be thrown out and all the leftist
communist Senators that live in their armed guard Mansions with him. Defund the police and i hope you have fun!!
Of course let out the sex offenders, murderers, the worst of the worst in Cali to make room for those who dont obey your commie rules. Not a suprise. But we’ll see how that goes.
Quick, anyone with children, get out of CA. This state isn’t fit for normal people. Leave it for the druggies, rapist and the homeless.
These people are in jail a for very specific reason ! They committed the crime , were prosecuted and deserve to do the time!! This is so wrong to even consider doing something this foolish! Sex crimes destroy the person forced into such a violent invasion! We pay the police , the courts , the jails to keep them out of society ! How dare you ??? This is preposterous and an insult and tremendous risk to all tax paying citizens who abide by the law!!!
dumass