Yesterday morning, the San Francisco Chronicle ran a story about “what went wrong” in the quadruple murder of police officers in Oakland, California. The focus of that story was police procedure — an understandable line of inquiry with four policemen’s lives lost at two crime scenes. Today, both the Chronicle and the Los Angeles Times ran stories covering the problems that arise when violent offenders like Lovelle Mixon, the man who killed the officers, are released on parole.
The Chronicle, however, starts every story by stressing how rare it is that parolees resort to violence. And, of course, killing four officers is a thankfully rare tragedy. But, as the Chronicle itself notes, fully two-thirds of California parolees are returned to prison for violating parole. That’s two-thirds of the state’s 122,000 parolees. Is violence really “rare” in this vast group of offenders? Why do some newspapers reflexively minimize such horrific numbers, particularly in the immediate aftermath of the murder of four policemen? There are more than 16,000 parolees in California currently wanted for parole violations. 12% of parolees in California abscond immediately upon leaving prison. ...