Perspectives on parole differ

Re “Is this paroled killer still a threat?” July 13

We are grateful for The Times’ perceptive piece on the state Supreme Court case regarding the parole of Sandra Lawrence, which points to a striking irony in the current state government bureaucracy.

California has a Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, but what does “rehabilitation” mean when the governor wants to deny parole to inmates who have taken every opportunity to demonstrate they have reformed? What else would Sandra Lawrence have had to do?

In a year when tight budgets have led the California State University system to turn away 20,000 students, there are more than 30,000 inmates in our state prisons serving life sentences who are eligible for parole. To deny it to those who clearly qualify for it makes a mockery of the whole idea. Lawrence wants to become a taxpayer. We say, give her the opportunity!

David and

Lillian Levering

Claremont

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I read the article on Lawrence with great interest and dread.

Two weeks ago, I sat through the sentencing of my sister’s murderer -- her ex-husband, the father of her two young children. He stabbed her to death with a butcher knife in their home in Boulder, Colo., leaving her practically decapitated in a pool of her blood on her kitchen floor. He pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and was sentenced to 25 years in a medium-security prison.

My family’s greatest fear is that he will be an exemplary prisoner, gain early release and then be able to live a full and active life.

As a new member of the club to which nobody wants a membership, the family and friends of murder victims, I speak with authority when I say that the family and friends of Rubye Williams must be horrified that Lawrence is being glorified as a rehabilitated prisoner and a valued member of her community. Although it is respectable that she behaved herself in prison, the fact remains that she callously murdered an innocent person.

It is a slap in the face to all victims and their families to overlook the enormous toll these crimes have taken. The Times needed to put more focus on the victim in this story, Williams, and perhaps ask her family and friends how they feel about Lawrence’s release.

Noelle

Swan Gilbert

Los Angeles