Criminal Release System

Report Outline
Cases of ‘Revolving Door’ Justice
Evolvement of Release Procedures
Proposals for Changing the System
Special Focus

Cases of ‘Revolving Door’ Justice

Public Outery Over Repeat-Offender Crimes

In Washington, D.C., in early April, an 18-year-old youth was charged with the murder of a 35-year-old man in an apparent hold-up attempt. Two months earlier the suspect had been released without bond after allegedly trying to rob a woman at gunpoint, and over the past three years had been convicted of armed robbery, shoplifting, grand larceny and burglary.

In Los Angeles earlier this year, an 18-year-old was charged with assault and robbery of an 85-year-old woman. The youth, authorities discovered, was already out on parole for the second-degree murder of another elderly woman in the same neighborhood in 1974.

In Baltimore, a criminal with a record of nearly 20 arrests over the last dozen years was arrested for burglary and released on personal recognizance. Within the next six months he was arrested for mail larceny and released on recognizance, arrested on two charges of burglary and released on recognizance, arrested for attempted burglary and released on bond. Finally he pleaded guilty to one burglary after the other charges were dropped.