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Review of Parole Authority Decisions

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An important bill, Senate Constitutional Amendment No. 9, is currently languishing in the state Legislature and critically needs your support. This bill seeks to give the governor a 30-day period of time to review decisions of the State Parole Authority with regard to persons sentenced to an indeterminate term upon conviction for murder.

Indeterminate sentences are handed down for crimes such as murder and kidnapping. Then these persons are eligible for parole review; the decisions of the State Parole Authority critically impact our communities.

Examples can be cited where convicted murderers are released despite the protests of community residents. The City of Orange experienced this in March of 1984 when Theodore Streleski, who served 5 1/2 years of an eight-year sentence for the brutal murder of a professor at Stanford University, was scheduled to be released to Orange.

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Under existing state law, the governor can request a review of a parole decision only if he can introduce new information.

It is interesting that a government designed to function with a built-in system of checks and balances to prevent the misuse or abuse of authority allows the critical decisions of an appointed board, such as the State Parole Authority, to stand unchecked. SCA 9 seeks to amend this potentially devastating flaw by allowing the governor to review these decisions to affirm, modify or reverse them.

SCA 9 critically needs the active support of each California resident to ensure its enactment. I urge you to contact your state senator and assemblyman to express your strong support.

JAMES BEAM

Mayor

City of Orange

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