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Notable defense of parole focused on prosecutorial discretion

By Douglas A. Berman

Writing in The Atlantic, Wendy Kaminar has this interesting new commentary, headlined "Why Granting Parole Helps Us Stay Tough on Crime," which stresses the too-often ignored issue of prosecutorial discretion.  Here are excerpts: Massachusetts governor Deval Patrick recently secured the resignation of the executive director and five members of the seven member Massachusetts parole board, including its chair, after paroled career criminal Domenic Cinelli killed veteran police officer Jack Maguire during a botched robbery attempt in late December 2010.  Not surprisingly the murder of a police officer by a parolee sparked widespread outrage and demands for drastic parole reforms, including an immediate suspension of parole hearings. After a subsequent inquiry found serious mistakes in the conduct of Cinelli's hearing and a serious failure of supervision when he was released, Patrick's shake-up of the agency, which was met with the surprised approval of his conservative critics and the dismay of liberal criminal justice advocates, seemed inevitable...continue to full post

Full post as published by Sentencing Law and Policy on January 20, 2011 (boomark / email).