40% of Riot Suspects Have Criminal Records : Unrest: Deputy city attorney says his computer check shows that many involved in misdemeanors were on probation or parole.

Background checks run by city prosecutors on suspects arrested in the recent riots have found that at least 40% had criminal records and nearly 30% were on active probation or parole when they were arrested.

A deputy city attorney who ran comprehensive computer checks on about 1,000 of the suspects charged with misdemeanors in the early stages of the rioting--most related to looting or curfew violations--has determined that 280 of them were on probation or parole from felony convictions, or were otherwise wanted by authorities. Two were prison escapees.

A second survey of those arrested only on curfew violations found that 40% had some type of police “rap sheet,” including at least one prior arrest.

Because many of the suspects already have pleaded guilty to misdemeanors and received short sentences--with some looters serving just 11 days in jail--prosecutors now are scrambling to file additional charges against them before they are released. Meanwhile, to those assigned to process the crush of riot cases, the new numbers are confirmation that they are not seeing only first offenders who were swept up in the emotion of civil unrest.

“The public defenders have made a point of saying we’ve caught up people who were homeless. (And) yes, we have seen some of those,” said Deputy City Atty. Dennis Jensen. “But there was a criminal element out there.”

To Deputy Dist. Atty. Jim Jacobs, it was inevitable that the turmoil on the streets would bring out veteran criminals. “I suspect this riot has put in jail the vast majority of (riot-area) people on probation and parole,” he said. “This will draw them out like honey would draw bears. . . . This is something they cannot watch on TV without getting up and participating in.”

To community activists and defense attorneys, however, it is no surprise that any cross-section of the inner city includes a large number of people with arrest records. The frequent and tense interaction with police was a prime factor in the tensions that set the stage for the riots, they say. A national study last year found that black males were imprisoned at seven times the rate of the general population.

In addition, arrest statistics can be deceptive, said Deputy Public Defender S. Elisa Poteat, who cited the case of one client, a 50-year-old man picked up in the riots “whose criminal record . . . is one drunk driving arrest 20 years ago.”

The statistics compiled by the city attorney’s office come from the approximately 2,400 misdemeanor cases brought by city prosecutors for riot-related offenses, most for curfew violations, petty theft or receipt of stolen property. More serious felony charges--the majority for commercial burglary, and some for arson and murder--are brought by the district attorney.

While the felony cases often move slowly through the criminal justice system, the riot misdemeanors generally have been resolved quickly, with guilty pleas at arraignments. Curfew violators have gotten standard 10-day sentences in County Jail, and already have been released, while 30-day terms were handed out for looting-related misdemeanors.

Even that sentence, however, translates into just 11 days served under an early release program designed to control jail crowding. So Deputy City Atty. John Wilson said he quickly began running computerized background checks on the defendants--using both their names and fingerprints--to see if there were grounds to hold them longer.

Attempting to concentrate first on the looting offenders, but then including many curfew violators, Wilson said he has processed about 1,000 names so far and discovered:

* One hundred and thirty-three were on parole after felony convictions. Seven others had not been reporting to their parole officers and warrants had been issued for their arrest.

* One was a prison escapee from Oregon and another from a halfway house in California.

* One hundred and twenty-four were on probation for felony convictions; another 10 were under California Youth Authority or juvenile probation.

Several others were already wanted by the federal Immigration and Naturalization Service, which has since done its own survey of suspects jailed in the riots--and taken custody of hundreds of alleged illegal immigrants among them.

Wilson said the background checks convinced him that, for many rioters, “this was not an instantaneous ‘good guy rage’ kind of thing. This was the bad guy taking advantage of a situation out of control.”

Wilson said he has forwarded his findings to state parole officials to take action against those defendants under their jurisdiction. The names of those on probation have been sent to the district attorney’s office, which can go to court to get a probationary term changed to jail time.

But Jacobs, who handles such matters for the county prosecutor’s office, said that before he takes action against the misdemeanor suspects he must finish his own project--running similar background checks on more than 2,000 felony suspects charged in the wake of the riots.

He said he also expects to find that the riots brought out, among others, “the 10% of the criminals who produce 90% of the crime.”

Studies after the 1965 Watts riots found that more than 60% of the 3,438 adults arrested had some criminal record. About half of those only had arrest records or “minor” convictions, carrying sentences of 90 days or less. About 30% of those arrested had convictions carrying sentences greater than 90 days.

In regard to the recent riots, prosecutors say that, in a bid to quickly dispose of cases, courts are letting off dangerous criminals too easily. They cite cases of a defendant with more than 60 previous arrests, and others caught in the riot area with bottles of gasoline, getting sentences similar to those of first offenders.

Meanwhile, county public defenders complain that many innocent individuals were jailed in the police sweeps. Scores of homeless people were arrested, they say, along with others who had a legitimate reason to be outside--returning home from work, for instance--but who were picked up because they are black or Latino.

It the wake of such criticism, city prosecutors have begun a second background study of defendants handled by their office--focusing on several hundred who have pleaded guilty to curfew violations, the lightest charge stemming from the unrest.

They so far have found a “rap sheet” on about 40% of the total, but the study is far from complete, prosecutors said, because they have not used fingerprints to conduct comprehensive computer checks on many of the others.

Deputy City Atty. Jensen theorized that the familiarity of many suspects with the criminal justice system was one reason those charged with misdemeanors quickly pleaded guilty. These defendants recognized “the deal of a lifetime” in the sentences being handed out, he said.

But defense attorneys have complained about sentencing of riot suspects from a different perspective, focusing on the tough terms set by Dist. Atty. Ira Reiner for plea bargains in felony cases.

Felony looting defendants seeking to avoid trials, where they would risk longer terms if convicted, must agree to receive sentences of at least a year in jail under the deals offered by Reiner’s office. Defense attorneys say such sentences are excessive for people with no criminal records who were caught up in minor looting.

“You’re going to hear horror stories from both sides,” noted Mel Tennenbaum, a division chief for the public defender’s office.