Recall proponents go after Gavin Newsom’s crime policies. What they had to say at rally

Crime victim advocates and the parents of murdered Californians gathered with recall supporters on Tuesday to revile Gov. Gavin Newsom’s crime policies.

Since taking office in 2018, Newsom has advocated for criminal justice changes in an effort to address racial and economic disparities in the incarceration system.

Anne Dunsmore, campaign manager for the recall committee Rescue California, said the state is a more dangerous place today because of the policies supported by the governor and his Democratic allies.

Dunsmore and advocates pointed to Newsom’s decision to suspend the death penalty early on in his term, and efforts to change California’s three-strike law, a 1994 bill passed in response to the murders of Kimber Reynolds and Polly Klaas. Californians passed a ballot measure in 2012 to soften the law, allowing for the release of an estimated 6,000 people. California Democrats endorsed the measure.

The three strikes-law again went before voters last year. Proposition 20 would have added crimes to the list of violent felonies for which early parole is restricted. The measure was defeated by a margin of more than 20 points.

Marc Klaas, father of Polly, said he was shocked when Newsom made the decision to suspend the death penalty shortly after meeting with him. Richard Allen Davis, who was paroled at the time from serving time for other violent offenses, was convicted of 12-year-old Polly Klaas’ murder in 1996, and sentenced to death by lethal injection. He currently sits on death row at San Quentin.

Newsom’s decision to suspend the death penalty gave a reprieve to Davis and the 736 other people on death row at the time.

“The thing that really alarms me about what the governor did, is that it’s a continuation of policies to undermine the criminal justice system, and to put dangerous people back out onto the streets,” Marc Klaas said.

Recall supporters and crime victims also pointed to the recent action by the state to make some inmates eligible for earlier releases as part of efforts to trim the prison population. In May, California announced it would give 76,000 inmates, of the estimated 115,000 total inmate population, opportunities for early release.

According to the Associated Press, 63,000 inmates convicted of violent crimes will be eligible for good behavior credits that shorten their sentences by one-third instead of the one-fifth that had been in place since 2017. Of those inmates, 20,000 are serving life sentences with the possibility of parole.

“Murderers, rapists, child molesters, human traffickers, child abusers: they are the worst and he’s releasing them, early release, with no provision for the public safety,” said Nina Salarno, president of Crime Victims United of California.

Nathan Click, a spokesman for Stop the Republican Recall, said it’s disappointing but not surprising to see Republicans use “Trump-style tactics to launch false attacks” and “exploit the pain of crime victims in order to advance their partisan recall power grab.”

“Governor Newsom has stood with victims – increasing financial support and services for these families - and is advancing proven solutions to protect public safety,” Click said.

This story was originally published July 20, 2021 at 1:14 PM with the headline "Recall proponents go after Gavin Newsom’s crime policies. What they had to say at rally."