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Our jails, our safety

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LOS ANGELES HAS MORE CRIMINALS than it can afford. So county officials are forced to release too many jail inmates too early, putting thousands of convicted criminals on the street -- with predictably tragic consequences not only for their victims but for public trust in government.

On Tuesday, Sheriff Lee Baca announced more strict rules about the early release of violent inmates. From now on, he said, the department will closely scrutinize the criminal records of inmates eligible for early release; if they’re too violent, the department won’t let them go. Up to 1,500 inmates a year will serve their full sentences instead of being released early.

It’s a welcome change of course for Baca, who began closing jails in 2002 because of budget cuts. The Times reported last week that seven men have committed murders when they should have been serving out their sentences for other crimes. Nine more are awaiting trial for homicide. Of the nearly 16,000 other criminals rearrested while their earlier sentences were still in force, 518 were charged with robbery, 641 with weapons violations and 1,443 with assault.

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But the toll goes beyond those directly victimized by criminals. It encompasses the entire community and produces a sense of futility. In absolute numbers, the new policy may well reduce crime. Yet in a relative sense, Baca and his colleagues will continue to face skepticism about the criminal justice system and the government’s ability to administer it.

The litany of questions goes something like this: We pass the laws, so why aren’t they enforced? Actually, they are enforced. Baca’s deputies and the Los Angeles Police Department step up the pace of arrests, pulling criminals off the street. So why don’t these criminals stay in jail? The courts impose tough sentences. But because there is no room or too few guards in the jails, the convicts are back on the streets too soon, thumbing their noses at every cog in the criminal justice wheel that is supposed to keep them from harming the rest of us.

The message all this sends to the public is plain: Why bother? Why bother reporting crime, especially small crimes and quality-of-life crimes? Why bother beefing up the LAPD, especially if it means higher taxes? So there are more arrests -- so what? You can be arrested and convicted and still not do jail time.

Los Angeles can do better. Baca’s newfound interest in the criminal histories of his prisoners is a positive step. Judges and prosecutors should also remember that plea bargains resulting in county jail time may put the defendants on the street sooner than they expect. Creative sentencing solutions for nonviolent offenders are worth revisiting as well.

Each solution has consequences -- some acceptable, some not. But there is no substitute for thinking them through and the hard, thankless work of trying them out. It is no cliche to say that lives depend on it. So does a community’s faith in its government.

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