A Job for a Tough Guy

The ghost of Willie Horton haunted Gov. Gray Davis throughout his administration. Horton was the star of a Republican attack ad in the 1988 presidential campaign. Under then-Gov. Michael S. Dukakis, the Democratic candidate, the Massachusetts corrections department had granted the convicted murderer a weekend furlough in 1986. Horton escaped to Maryland and raped a woman. The GOP ad successfully used that experience to brand Dukakis as soft on criminals. Mindful of how that ad had helped doom Dukakis’ political career, Davis made sure that no challenger could ever accuse him of coddling crooks.

By all accounts, Davis overdid it. He refused to commute any death sentences despite evidence of mitigating factors, vetoed nearly all paroles for killers and staunchly supported the application of the three-strikes law, even when a strike was a minor offense.

Horton’s ghost shouldn’t frighten Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. Deservedly or not, his Republican roots and tough-guy persona on the big screen help insulate him from being attacked as soft on crime. In deciding whether to parole killers or send felons to prison for life for stealing a videotape, Schwarzenegger thus seems to enjoy the freedom to pursue justice without having to look over his shoulder at poll results.

True, Schwarzenegger is a supporter of capital punishment and is unlikely to stop executions. But on other issues, he’s more likely to depart from Davis’ hard-as-nails criminal justice policies.

Schwarzenegger’s first two weeks in office provided evidence bolstering this possibility. The day after he was sworn in, the governor agreed to a court settlement that would keep thousands of nonviolent parole violators out of prison by requiring them to participate in drug treatment, despite opposition from the prison guards union and victims’ rights advocates. Settlement negotiations had stalled under Davis.

Days into his administration, Schwarzenegger authorized parole of a killer who correctional authorities said posed no threat after 18 years in prison. In his second week, the governor approved the release of another murderer who prison officials determined was rehabilitated. Then, last week, Edward Alameida Jr.’s resignation as director of the California Department of Corrections opened up another opportunity for change. Critics had regarded him as too cozy with the prison guards union.

Acting under the 1988 voter-approved law allowing governors to veto parole decisions for murderers, Davis took nearly two years to approve his first such parole, and in his five years as governor he allowed only eight paroles, rejecting 286. In contrast, Gov. Pete Wilson, hardly soft on crime, paroled 65 murderers during his terms. It would be a considerable improvement even if Schwarzenegger adopted Wilson’s rate of granting paroles.

In light of these early actions, ameliorating some of the harsher aspects of the three-strikes law may not be beyond the reach of the new governor. Schwarzenegger could draw on the example of L.A. County Dist. Atty. Steve Cooley, another Republican who beat an incumbent Democrat known for tough-on-crime policies. Gil Garcetti maximized prosecutions under the three-strikes law, sending thousands to prison for penny-ante third-strike offenses. When Cooley took over, he put an end to this practice, reserving the law’s life sentences for felons who had committed serious crimes. Far from hurting him politically, these policies won Cooley plaudits for moderation and proportionality, as well as saving him resources to combat violent crime.

Schwarzenegger has indicated that he is opposed to watering down the three-strikes statute, but he might be receptive to the idea that voters should make that decision. On such important policy issues as workers’ compensation and budgetary reform, he has pledged to “let the people decide.” Since three strikes was approved at the ballot box almost a decade ago, the law’s implementation has raised questions of fairness. A bill that would have permitted the electorate to decide whether the statute should continue to send petty thieves and drug addicts to prison for life was opposed by Davis last year and failed to get out of the Legislature. The bill’s author plans to reintroduce it in January. At the least, Schwarzenegger might be willing to authorize a study of the efficacy and consequences of the three-strikes law, a proposal vetoed by Davis.

At first glance, Schwarzenegger doesn’t seem as if he would be lenient toward criminals. As it’s said in one of his movies, the Terminator “can’t be bargained with, it can’t be reasoned with. It doesn’t feel pity, or remorse or fear.” Odd as it may seem, however, this cinematic reputation helps free the new governor from having to prove his crime-fighting bona fides. Unburdened by the ghost of Horton, he can reintroduce the idea of fairness back into the criminal justice system.