Patterico's Pontifications

7/1/2005

Another Episode in the Saga of Those Experienced Times Editors

Filed under: Crime,Dog Trainer — Patterico @ 7:21 am



From the L.A. Times corrections this morning comes this gem:

Older prisoners — A Los Angeles Times Magazine article Sunday about the increasing number of elderly prisoners in California prisons incorrectly stated that former Gov. Gray Davis said that murderers would leave prison during his term only “in a pine box.” Although others have characterized his policy in this way, Davis did not actually make this remark. In addition, the article incorrectly stated that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger “is on exactly the same page” as Davis when it comes to releasing murderers. The governor, in fact, has granted parole to 84 convicted murderers whose sentences made them eligible for release, whereas Davis allowed five to be paroled. Also, the article incorrectly referred to the location of the California Institution for Women. It is in Chino, not Corona.

Yes, and it’s quite odd that the freelance writer doesn’t know that, since the article strongly implies that she actually visited the prison. Did she not know where she was? The two towns are a good 14 miles apart; then again, they do both start with “c.”

And you have to be amazed that this writer was unaware of Schwarzenegger’s radical change in parole policy. It’s not like that was a secret. What exactly qualified this person to write an article about California corrections policy, if she wasn’t even aware of that??

I didn’t read this article the first time out, but I took a look at it after seeing this correction. Guess what? They didn’t catch all the errors yet. How about this:

The state’s 1994 three-strikes law mandates life sentences without parole for certain repeat felons, and these recidivists—42,240 second- and third-strikers as of June 2002—will inevitably grow old and die in prison.

Not so. The Three Strikes Law does not mandate life without parole for anyone. The statute provides a minimum term that must be served by someone convicted of a third strike before they are eligible for parole; that term is usually 25 years. To get life without the possibility of parole in this state, you must be convicted of murder with at least one special circumstance. [UPDATE 7-7-05: Actually, this is not true. There is an obscure repeat offender statute (not the Three Strikes Law) that is almost never used any more, which provides for life without the possibility of parole without a murder conviction. This doesn’t change the fact that The Times got it wrong.]

I’m not sure where David Shaw’s four experienced Times editors were for this article. But it sure is looking like another letter to the Readers’ Representative . . .

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