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PA Gov. Rendell calling to end parole for repeat violent offenders

By Douglas A. Berman

This Philapelphia Inquirer piece, headlined "Rendell: Eliminate parole for repeat violent offenders," reports on the latest crime and punishment news from the Keystone State: After a year marked by horrific crimes committed by repeat violent offenders, Gov. Rendell called yesterday for legislation to keep them locked up longer. "The parole system simply doesn't work for these violent individuals who use deadly weapons," Rendell told reporters yesterday at the Park Hyatt Philadelphia at the Bellevue. "It works for nonviolent offenders," he said. "In 2007, 95 percent of the state's nonviolent 31,000 parolees were not rearrested. "But not for this dangerous group of individuals . . . who learn to game the system." Rendell's effort would not change the sentencing guidelines that judges employ or the factors that parole boards can consider...continue to full post

Full post as published by Sentencing Law and Policy on January 05, 2009 (boomark / email).