Is Californias Parole System Overstretched?
Publication Date: September 02, 2009 Source: The Christian Science Monitor Author: Michael B. Farrell Professor Joan Petersilia, co-director of the Stanford Criminal Justice Center, discusses parole reform with Michael B. Farrell of the Christian Science Monitor: Criminal charges against a parolee in the abduction of Jaycee Lee Dugard have added fuel to arguments from some California Republicans and law enforcement groups opposed to changes in the state’s parole system. But criminal justice experts say the arrest of Phillip Garrido, a registered sex offender who was under GPS monitoring, for Ms. Dugard’s 1991 abduction is just one example of why the state’s parole system needs to be overhauled. “Those cases are proof of why you need greater supervision for high-risk people. The system is too lenient on the most violent and too harsh on people who would literally not be on parole at all in other states,” says Joan Petersilia, a professor of criminology at Stanford University and author
