California inmates convicted of nonviolent sex crimes may be eligible for early parole consideration as part of a ballot measure that nearly two-thirds of voters approved four years ago, the state's Supreme Court recently ruled. The 2016 initiative was never intended to cover sex offenders, former California Gov. But lower courts ruled that the plain language of the initiative means they cannot be excluded from consideration as nonviolent offenders, and the high court agreed on Monday. Under California law, violent sex offenses include rape, sodomy and continuous sexual abuse of a child. Corrections department spokeswoman Dana Simas echoed the high court’s emphasis that the decision does not necessarily mean sex offenders will be paroled.

Source: Fox News December 29, 2020 13:52 UTC