Free Republic

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — With little notice, California on Saturday is increasing early release credits for 76,000 inmates, including violent and repeat felons, as it further trims the population of what once was the nation’s largest state correctional system. More than 63,000 inmates convicted of violent crimes will be eligible for good behavior credits that shorten their sentences by one-third instead of the one-fifth that had been in place since 2017. That includes nearly 20,000 inmates who are serving life sentences with the possibility of parole. More than 10,000 inmates convicted of a second serious but nonviolent offense under the...

Last year, a group of violent felons sued the administration of Gov. George E. Pataki, charging that the state was ignoring the law by categorically denying them parole. They figured their chances would improve under his successor, Eliot Spitzer, even though Mr. Spitzer was a tough former prosecutor who supported the death penalty. In the spring, they were heartened when Mr. Spitzer’s new chairman of the State Parole Board, George B. Alexander, reminded his fellow commissioners that they were obligated to consider the potential for rehabilitation, remorse and recidivism as well as the severity of the original crime. By fall,...

WEAPONS OF CHOICE County drops homeowner's gun charges 'We choose to prosecute the real criminal' - but village case remains Posted: February 7, 2004 1:00 a.m. Eastern © 2004 WorldNetDaily.com County prosecutors took a slap at an Illinois town that bans handguns by dropping charges against a homeowner who protected his family by shooting an intruder. Hale DeMar, 54, faces sanctions from Wilmette, near Chicago, but Cook County says it will not press charges for letting his state firearms registration lapse, the Chicago Tribune reported. "We choose to prosecute the real criminal here, the person who broke into this house...