Calif. Gov. Approves Release for 81% of Convicted Killers

California Gov. Jerry Brown has agreed with more than 80 percent of the recommendations by the state parole board to release convicted killers since May, reports the New York Times.

So far, Gov. Brown has upheld 207 of the parole board's 253 decisions to release convicted killers, as a response to the U.S. Supreme Court's mandate to the state reduce overcrowded prison populations.

Already this year, more release dates granted to killers have been allowed to stand than in any year since California governors got the power to reverse them, reports Ian Lovett in The Times.

"At the rate the state is going, more than 1,000 convicted killers who should be serving time will be set free, putting residents at increased risk," according to a response from the Los Angeles Police Protective League. "We urge the governor to use his predecessors as role models when reviewing parole board decisions."

Previously, inmates serving life sentences for murder were virtually never set free. Even on the rare occasions when the parole board granted a release, California's governors almost invariably overturned it, according to Lovett's report.

Source: New York Times .