The Stanford rape case and California law
Outraged at this headline-grabbing punishment, 16 Democratic Assembly members and senators wrote to Santa Clara District Attorney Jeff Rosen urging him to appeal the sentence, which they described as a “slap on the wrist.”
[...] 15 of those lawmakers also asked the California Commission on Judicial Performance to review Perksy’s ruling for possible “improper misconduct.”
Oddly, and yet predictably, all but one Assembly member who signed the antijudge letters on the Turner sentence — the exception is Assemblyman Mike Gatto, D-Los Angeles — voted to allow felons to vote in jail.
Under AB2590, Hanisee wrote in a newsletter for California’s Assistant District Attorneys Association, “judges would have the ability to impose ‘community-based punishment’ for all criminal defendants — including those convicted of sex offenses.”
Since Jerry Brown became governor (again) in 2010, he has worked with the Legislature to peel back tough-on-crime laws.
Since Jerry Brown was re-elected governor in 2010, California has seen a number of changes in criminal justice law.
In 2011, Brown signed two bills that pushed through his realignment initiative to allow nonviolent nonserious non-sex offenders to serve their sentences in county jail instead of state prison.
No inmate was freed from state prison as a direct result of realignment, but Criminal Justice Legal Foundation Legal Director Kent Scheidegger noted, “Once they’re in county jail, lots of county jails are letting people loose” to alleviate jail overcrowding.