Fewer Felons Being Sent to Prison

Orange County is sending fewer defendants to state prison, mirroring a statewide trend that some officials say is a reflection of the tumbling crime rate.

In Dist. Atty. Tony Rackauckas’ first 18 months in office, prosecutors sent 688 fewer defendants to state prison than during his predecessor’s last 18 months in office, according to state Department of Corrections records.

The shift reflects the continuing drop in violent felonies as well as tough sentencing laws that have removed many violent felons from the streets, Rackauckas said.

“A lot of people who are career criminals are in prison and are not out repeating their offenses,” Rackauckas said. “Clearly we still have a lot of felonies, but the number of murders and other violent crimes and gang crimes is down, so we’re dealing with the rest of the felonies.”

Other counties have also seen declines in the number of felons sent to prison, but Orange County appears to be at the forefront. The county saw a 10.6% drop since January 1999, from 6,490 to 5,802. That compares to a 6.3% drop in the rest of the state.

In Los Angeles County, prosecutors sent 12.2% fewer defendants to prison during that time. San Diego County sent 3.4% fewer.

The dip is being felt inside the state’s 33 prisons, which last year recorded their first decline in overall population since 1977.

“There has been a concern the prison population is increasing,” Rackauckas said. “This is good to hear and it’s going to be good news to the residents of California.”

But some critics--notably former Dist. Atty. Mike Capizzi--believe the Orange County decline is linked to Rackauckas’ decision to let front-line prosecutors negotiate guilty pleas and sentences with judges and defense attorneys. Under Capizzi, prosecutors were told what sentence to recommend--and could not budge from that without a supervisor’s approval.

“That’s a substantial decrease,” said Capizzi about the figures. Capizzi lost a judicial election this year to a candidate endorsed by Rackauckas.

Rackauckas strongly rejects his former rival’s suggestion, insisting that his policy has nothing to do with the numbers. He said that if a case is a close call between state prison or probation with a local jail sentence, his prosecutors prefer to keep defendants in Orange County. The number of defendants sent to jail rose by 3.2% in 1999, from 5,943 to 6,134.

A felony defendant sentenced to probation can receive up to one year in Orange County Jail for each felony charge. Law enforcement officers can search the home, car or clothing of a convicted felon on probation without a search warrant. Also, a convict can be sent to prison for violating any condition of probation.

“If we give them probation and a year in the County Jail . . . we can work with them and check on them for the next three to five years,” Rackauckas said. “We’re not just trying to get a prison statistic.”

Orange County Superior Court Judge Kazuharu Makino, who supervises the county’s 18 criminal trial judges, said defense attorneys and prosecutors are more likely to settle cases since Rackauckas took office. But he hasn’t seen any evidence to suggest that the policy is resulting in lighter sentences.

“There’s been more cases where the D.A. will talk to a defense attorney in an effort to settle a case,” said Makino, who deals with hundreds of felony cases a year. “The D.A. will say, ‘I’ll give you an offer.’ That didn’t used to happen.”

And the change, Makino said, is a positive for the Orange County courts. Plea-bargaining happened under Capizzi, the judge said, but it was up to the judges to do the negotiating.

“It put the D.A. out of the loop. It wasn’t necessarily a good thing,” Makino said. “What D.A.s are trying to get used to is they can now be back in the loop.”

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Under California law, a prosecutor or judge can offer a criminal defendant a reduced sentence in exchange for pleading guilty early in the case. It’s a tactic that makes sense from a fiscal standpoint, Rackauckas said.

In 1999, about 200 more defendants pleaded guilty in Orange County than the prior year, according to district attorney records. In the same year, 96% of Orange County felony convictions were obtained by guilty pleas, the rest by trial.

“It’s a public-policy decision. If the public wants the criminal courts to try every case, we could do it, but that would mean the civil cases wouldn’t be tried for years,” Makino said.

Defense attorneys said they’ve noticed a difference under Rackauckas. Prosecutors once closed-mouthed during pretrial negotiations now speak freely about sentences with defense attorneys.

“They have more discretion to do what they think is in the interest of justice,” said Assistant Public Defender David Dworakowski, supervisor at the public defender’s south Orange County office. “It’s a better system under Rackauckas. The assigned deputy knows the most about the case and what’s in the best interest of the public.

“To have blanket policies that don’t take into consideration the specifics of individual cases makes no sense . . . Rackauckas’ administration has recognized that, it appears to me.”