What Congress Doesn’t Want You to Know that Could Cost You Your Life

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Homeland Security

7 min readFeb 29, 2016

You may read many different perspectives surrounding the issue of federal sentencing reform and I would like to share my view with you. I will talk about someone who has benefited from sentencing reductions in California time and time again, only to return to committing serious crimes. You should be very concerned about him, this is his true story, and he is not unique. In fact, he is typical of the majority of those released from custody following sentencing reform.

He was arrested for his first serious crime as a boy. He broke into a home occupied by an elderly man, and when confronted, he proceeded to beat him until he lost consciousness. He was later arrested, pled to burglary, and sentenced to the California Youth Authority (record was sealed and therefore doesn’t count as a prior violent crime).

2011- California enacts the Public Safety Realignment Act (Sentencing Reform)

Following his release from custody, he arranged to go out with a female friend. Shortly after picking her up, he violently raped her in his vehicle. She reported the incident to police and he was arrested. As the trial was approaching he threatened her and she was too terrified to testify. All charges were dropped. Unfortunately, this happens all the time. Not long after this incident, he was arrested for attempting to assault her once again. He was arrested and pled guilty to a lesser charge. His sentence was reduced and he was released from custody (no violent crime conviction).

Weeks after his release, he immediately began stalking and threatening her yet again. He was arrested and threatened to harm her and her family. Fearing for her life, she refused to testify and the charges were dropped. She moved out of the area and severed all contact with any of the friends they had in common. She was terrified he would find her. In a rage at being unable to locate her, he broke into the house where she used to live and set it on fire. He was arrested for arson, accepted a plea deal for a lesser charge, had his sentence reduced and was released from custody following a short time in jail (no violent crime conviction).

Once he was released from custody, he was quickly arrested for breaking into a home occupied by a young girl he did not know, but had seen in front of the house. He is later arrested, convicted of a felony, and sentenced to prison. Following a significant sentence reduction he is released after a short time in custody. As soon as he is released, he is arrested for an attempted rape of another young girl. He is arrested, pleas to a lesser charge, has his sentence reduced and spends less than a year in jail (no violent crime conviction).

2012 — California enacts the Three Strikes Reform Act (Sentencing Reform)

After his release from custody he lands a job at a shopping mall. A few weeks later he kidnaps a coworker and attempts to rape her. When a passerby hears her screaming and calls the police, she is able to escape. A warrant is issued for his arrest and he flees the state. He is later tracked down and a team attempts to capture him. During the struggle he puts two police officers in the hospital and escapes. Eventually, he is arrested and is found guilty. Another significant sentence reduction and he is released after serving about a year in prison (no violent crime conviction, seeing the pattern here?).

2014 — California enacts the Safe Neighborhoods and Schools Act (Sentencing Reform)

One week after being released from prison, he stalks and finds the last girl he attempted to rape; this despite the fact that she had moved out of the area and also severed all contact with their mutual friends out of fear. He breaks into her house and waits for her to get home with the intention of raping and killing her. She comes home, sees him inside her house and runs away screaming. He chases her with a butcher knife and a neighbor scares him away. He is later captured and now sits in jail looking forward to accepting a plea deal to a lesser charge and his next sentence reduction. Oh, and not having a violent crime conviction.

The Sentencing Reform and Corrections Act is being debated by Congress and they need to look no further than California to assist with that “evidence based” decision. As the largest state in the nation, we serve as a testing ground in order to determine how changes in laws or policies could affect the nation as a whole. California has implemented three sentencing reform laws in the last 7 years. Although the last sentencing reform legislation was signed into law only a couple of years ago, the results to date should be very concerning to members of Congress and especially you.

According to research California’s sentencing reform laws reduced the prison population by 30,000 inmates as of 2014. This is considered a success and one of the goals of reform legislation. Unexpectedly the state’s prison costs had increased $2 billion since the first reform measure was implemented into law in 2011. That is a significant failure and disappointing to the many voters who approved this measure based on reducing the state’s incarceration costs.

Reducing incarceration costs not a major goal of sentencing reform? How about reducing crime? The FBI Uniform Crime Report documents felony crimes to include murder, rape, and robbery, and also tracks misdemeanor crimes such as stealing. According to the report, for the first 6 months of 2015 violent crime increased by 1.7% and property crime declined by 4.2% on the national level. By comparison, California saw an increase in violent crime of almost 13% and an increase in property crime of 9%. Los Angeles realized a 20.6% rise in violent crime and a 10.9% increase in property crimes. How come the advocates for federal sentencing reform all fail to mention what is occurring in California? Don’t believe me? Check it out yourself.

If it’s true that as California goes so does the rest of the nation, and sentencing reform now sits on the federal table surrounded by hungry politicians, the rest of the country can look forward to increasing incarceration costs and increasing crime rates. Do we really think reducing the consequences of committing criminal acts will magically reform this segment of our population, especially in light of the many challenges of true rehabilitation?

So we find ourselves standing on the edge of a cliff. Once again Congress will make a decision that will have a significant impact on the safety of our communities, and that safety responsibility will land squarely on the shoulders of those tasked with protecting them. This issue feels eerily similar to the decision made many years ago to release hundreds of thousands of people suffering from mental illness back into our communities with no plan for who will help them. Please join me in supporting Senators Tom Cotton, Orinn Hatch, and David Perdue in saying no to this federal sentencing reform legislation. Tell Senators Cory Booker, Chuck Grassley, and Sheldon Whitehouse to continue to work with stakeholders to craft real, meaningful solutions to the challenges of mandatory sentencing and prison reform. And let’s not forget about the victims who deserve to be heard during this process.

There are many offenders enjoying the benefits of sentencing reform, I only hope the next story isn’t about you.

Patrick has been a police officer for 21 years and currently occupies a command position with a mid-sized police department in California. He is also a graduate student attending the Naval Postgraduate School’s Center for Homeland Defense and Security. Homeland XYZ was developed in collaboration with members of his cohort to introduce a writing platform for students to publish and for crowd-sourcing answers to difficult Homeland Security questions.

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What Congress Doesn’t Want You to Know that Could Cost You Your Life

Written by Homeland XYZ