The discussion about the Supreme Court’s landmark decision last week in Brown v. Plata continues unabated. There are basically two sides of the debate.
Those predicting that a release of prisoners will create a crime wave in California, and therefore, the Supreme Court should not have upheld the release order. You can find these views here, here, and here (“Citizens will pay a real price as crime victims, as thousands of convicted felons will be on the streets with minimal supervision,” Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. Steve Cooley said in a statement. “Many of these ‘early release’ prisoners will commit crimes which would never have occurred had they remained in custody.”).
The other side predicts that crime will not substantially increase and that the Supreme Court’s opinion was the right thing to do and it may drive California to make needed reform to its criminal justice system. You can find those opinions here, here and here.
As someone who advocates for prison reform, I of course have an opinion on the ramifications of the Supreme Court’s decision. I will share those later in the week.