Home -> Law Blog Directory -> Criminal Law Blogs -> The Real Cost of Prisons Weblog

Criminal Law

: The Real Cost of Prisons Weblog

U.S. judges can't overturn parole board rulings

By Real Cost of Prisons Project (The Sentencing Project)

U.S. judges can't overturn parole board rulings COURTS January 25, 2011| By Bob Egelko San Francisco Chronicle Staff Writer A federal appeals court exceeded its power when it reversed a decision by the California parole board and ordered the release of a man convicted of a 1991 attempted murder in Berkeley, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled Monday. Federal judges have no power to overturn state parole decisions, the court said in a unanimous ruling that could affect hundreds of cases in federal courts in California. State courts in California can order freedom for a convicted murderer or other life-term prisoner who is denied release by the parole board or governor if the judges find no evidence the prisoner is still dangerous. Inmates who lose those decisions can appeal to federal courts...continue to full post

Full post as published by The Real Cost of Prisons Weblog on January 30, 2011 (boomark / email).