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Rendell Wants No Parole Of Repeat Violent Inmates
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CBS
The request came a day
after Rendell said he received the criminal history of a man who he said had
been paroled three times before allegedly killing two people in the Philadelphia suburbs last
year.
He also cited the
deaths of two Philadelphia
police officers allegedly killed by parolees in 2008.
"These murders cry out
for changes in how we sentence our violent repeat offenders who use deadly
weapons," Rendell said. "This is a
situation that simply has to change."
Under the governor's
proposal, repeat violent offenders who use a deadly weapon in the commission of
a crime would receive flat sentences without parole. Currently, sentences are
given as a time span—for example, five to 10 years—and offenders are eligible for
parole after serving the minimum.
Once offenders serve
the flat sentence, Rendell has proposed a five-year supervision period by the
parole board. Violators could be sent back to prison.
The proposal should
garner a lot of support from lawmakers when the legislative session begins
Tuesday, said Bob Caton, spokesman for House Speaker nominee Rep. Keith McCall,
D-Carbon.
"I cannot imagine
anybody having a problem with keeping repeat violent felons behind bars for as
long as possible," Caton said Sunday.
Sherry Tate,
spokeswoman for the Pennsylvania Board of Probation and Parole, said board
members have been refining their criteria for release and are looking more
closely at factors of violence and guns in making their decisions.
"Public safety is our
mission," Tate said Sunday. "We work within the existing laws we have. ... We
have a pretty sound system."
Parole works for
nonviolent and less violent offenders, Rendell said. He noted of the 31,000
people on parole in Pennsylvania
in 2007, 95 percent did not commit another crime.
But the state is
evaluating the cases of repeat violent offenders currently on parole for less
than five years to determine whether their supervision is adequate given their
criminal histories.
Rendell also wants the
parole board to place greater weight on convicts' offenses—as opposed to their
time in prison—when making release decisions. Some violent offenders "game the system"
by behaving well and taking prison classes to be released early, Rendell said.
Tate said parole board
members are receiving training to improve their assessment and interviewing
skills.
Rendell temporarily
halted the parole of state prison inmates in September and ordered a review of
the system after Philadelphia
police Officer Patrick McDonald was killed by paroled felon Daniel Giddings
after a traffic stop. Giddings was then fatally shot by another officer.
Rendell lifted the
moratorium after a consultant concluded that procedures for evaluating parolees
are largely safe and effective.
On Sunday, Rendell
singled out the case of Jermaine Burgess, whom he described as a three-time
parolee on weapons and robbery offenses, as one example of why stricter
sentencing is needed.
Burgess is accused of
killing an elderly woman in Ridley Township in October and an Upper
Darby man in November during a home invasion. The man's wife was
assaulted but escaped.
Rendell also noted the
case of Philadelphia
police Sgt. Stephen Liczbinski, who died last May after a fatal encounter with
three men who were all either on parole or in prerelease programs for violent
offenses.
About 25 other states
and the federal government have ended or limited parole for certain criminals,
Rendell said.
(© 2009 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
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