David Renz used duct tape to stop his electronic monitoring bracelets alarm. When it did sound, the monitors would consider it a "false alarm." Reports indicate Renz had over 40 false alarms with no response from monitoring officials including the night he murdered Lori Bresnahan by stabbing her over 40 times and raping her 10 year old daughter.
It sounds very noble to want to reduce prison populations and decriminalize. In fact, over the last few years the Congress and several state legislatures have been pushing these types of reforms in some cases with success. That has meant thousands of criminals let out on America’s streets but the question is, who is watching them?
David Renz was one of those criminals. Let out on federal probation, Renz was supposed to be on a "tight leash."Lori Bresnahan and her 10 year old should have never met Renz. Instead, a night that should never have happened, did.
Renz, a convicted child molester wasn't supposed to be there. His release from prison included an electronic monitoring “bracelet.”His ankle bracelet was supposed to keep him "in check" if he violated the conditions of probation.
Electronic bracelets and other alternative sentencing programs came on the scene over the last few decades.Originally pitched as sentencing options for "non-violent" criminals like Martha Stewart, they have slowly increased in use and application despite concerns from law enforcement and prosecutors.
A Pew Research study found that the "the number of active, offender monitoring devices increased 140 percent from 2005 to 2015."
The study went on to say,"In 2011, California officials conducted tests on the monitoring devices worn by 4,000 high-risk sex offenders and gang members, and according to the LA Times, found that batteries died early, cases, cracked, tampering alerts failed, and reported locations were off by as much as three miles."
As the justice system on all levels has been squeezed to "decriminalize" and “save money," more and more criminals have been placed on electronic and other monitoring under the supervision of probation and parole officers.
The problem is that federal and other probation and parole officers lack resources, staffing and in some cases authorities to do their job. For U.S. Probation Officers, staffing levels have remained stagnant while caseloads have increased
Making the job harder, a 2005 DOJ study, “Recidivism of Prisoners Released in 30 States Patterns from 2005 to 2010," cited that "Offenders sentenced to probation and released on parole commit more serious crimes than in the past, and more offenders have serious drug abuse histories and show less hesitation in using violence."
Despite all this, over the last few years the U.S. Sentencing Commission alone — with the stroke of a pen — released over 10,000 federal prisoners.
Why? For years an argument has been formulated, and policy makers have bought into it, that says we over-penalize criminals, sentence some people disproportionately and prison costs too much.
Yet a 2018 Bureau of Justice Statistics study found that 75 percent of released criminals are rearrested within five years and over 80 percent within nine years.
So despite the recidivism facts, the "free them to save money" arguments are overriding the reality that we are releasing people ill equipped to re-enter society with lackluster or non-existing supervision. Essentially, we are setting everyone up to fail.
The Brookings Institute found that "Officers in Florida were so overwhelmed with alerts that they stopped all real-time notifications, save those relating to device removal, and as a result, did not notice when one parolee broke his curfew 53 times in one month before killing three people."
Fifty three times unnoticed and three people dead? Tragic yet some want us to continue these same failed policies.
So what's the answer? First, for a variety of reasons, most prisons currently don’t require inmates to do anything.If they sit in jail and don’t get in trouble, they earn “good time” credit to reduce their sentences.That needs to change. "Good time" should be earned by education, job training and life skill development which would show that someone is serious about becoming a productive member of society.
Second, our probation and parole officers need help. In regards to U.S. Probation, their staffing levels have remained stagnant for years despite increased caseloads and their authorities are stuck in the 19th century.
Despite their federal status, they can't even arrest someone who assaults them while doing their job. Then we wonder why people don't want to do the job.
None of this was supposed to happen but unless we deal with reality and set up a system for success, the next Renz is only a pen stroke away.
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