The heart of the crime problem in the state is its prison and parole systems....93% of everyone who enters prison in California will be released, and that the vast majority of them will return to places like South L.A. where social services to assist parolees reentering society barely exist. As a result, ex-cons are unprepared to do anything other than commit another crime and go back to prison. A 1997 Department of Corrections survey of parolees found that 85% were chronic drug or alcohol abusers, 70% to 90% were unemployed, 18% mentally ill and 10% homeless.

...Parole policies and laws that effectively stigmatize former inmates compound the problem. Until recently, the operating philosophy of the state's parole system was to return parolees to prison no matter how minor their violations. Typically, they return to their communities with little or no money. Employers routinely shun them. Laws deny them driver's licenses, access to public housing and other services. The effect on communities is devastating.

Dominack praises LA police chief Bill Bratton for realizing that America cannot "arrest its way out of its crime problem." But, he says its not enough and he lays out the guantlet for Bratton:

If Bratton wants to leave a genuine legacy of long-term crime reduction and community stabilization in Los Angeles, he'll have to lobby hard for changes in California's prison and parole policies, not just make more arrests.

We hope Chief Bratton picks it up and runs with it.