Notorious Rapist Paroled Under Prop. 57 as “Nonviolent Offender”

Dan Walters has this column at CalMatters:

Eight years ago, then-Gov. Jerry Brown hoodwinked California voters into making it easier for violent sex offenders to shorten their prison sentences.

A month ago, the 2016 ballot measure that Brown sponsored, Proposition 57, allowed one of the state’s most notorious serial rapists, Andrew Luster, to be granted parole after serving less than half of his 50-year prison term. Three weeks later the Legislature passed a bill to close the loophole in Prop. 57 that could allow Luster to be released.

When Brown proposed Prop. 57 to voters, he said it would benefit only those convicted of nonviolent crimes by allowing them to qualify more easily for parole.

“It’s well-balanced,” Brown said at the time. “It’s thoughtful.”

For details on the Luster case, see this article last year by Michelle Loxton at KCLU.

The bill described by Walters, SB 268, does not fix Prop. 57, not even close. It does narrow the loophole a bit, but violent criminals misclassified as nonviolent will continue to gush through the opening that remains.

Thoughtful and well-balanced is not how I would describe Proposition 57. It reads like it was drafted on a cocktail napkin at Frank Fat’s, a political hangout near the capitol. It might have been.

Former Sacramento DA Anne Marie Schubert called it insane. That is much closer to the mark.