California Governor Jerry Brown’s realignment program continues to draw criticism, less than three weeks into its existence.
Starting October 1st, the state shifted responsibility for low-level offenders to counties. The governor has argued that the old corrections system is broken and could be improved by giving counties local control over the rehabilitation process.
But Republican Assemblyman Jim Nielsen said sex offenders who served their sentence, then committed another crime after being released are now getting out earlier than they would have under the previous system.
“These are parole violators who would have worked their way back to prison but now did not,” said Nielsen. “Instead, they’re back on the streets.”
And some big city mayors are demanding that the state reimburse their police departments for realignment-related costs.
The state Department of Corrections disagrees with Nielsen. It claims violators aren’t being treated any differently than they were before realignment began – just being supervised by a different level of government.
