Mark David Chapman in a mugshot taken at the Attica Correctional Facility in 2010. Photo / Getty Images
The man who fatally shot John Lennon in 1980 could be freed under new parole laws being considered by local officials in the state of New York.
Two bills under consideration in the US state would loosen parole restrictions, potentially allowing inmates serving lengthy sentences for violent crimes to be released much earlier than originally planned.
The Elder Parole Bill would permit offenders aged 55 and over to seek release after serving just 15 years, regardless of the severity of their crimes, the New York Post reported.
A second potential law – the Fair And Timely Parole Bill – would require parole boards to grant release unless an inmate was deemed a “current” danger to the public.
Critics of the possible new bills say figures such as Mark Chapman, Lennon’s killer, and the serial murderer David Berkowitz, nicknamed “Son of Sam”, could eventually walk free.
A law enforcement source told the New York Post: “Consider some of the most heinous and noteworthy people in prison today ... they will undoubtedly be released within the next two years if these bills are signed into law.”
Chapman murdered Lennon in New York City on December 8, 1980. He first became eligible for parole in 2000 after serving 20 years in prison.
Since then, he has been denied parole 14 times, including after Lennon’s widow Yoko Ono sent a letter to the board requesting that he should stay behind bars and serve the remainder of his life sentence.
His next parole hearing is in February next year, after he was denied parole last September.
Under the new proposals, inmates who were denied parole would be entitled to a fresh hearing every two years – a process that critics have warned could force victims’ families to relive their trauma repeatedly.
Supporters of the legislation argue that it would create a fairer system, focused on rehabilitation rather than punishment alone.
Olivia Murphy, a policy and communications associate for the campaign group Release Ageing People in Prison, said inmates “who have taken accountability for their crimes and done the hard work of transforming their thinking and behaviour” should be freed.
She said: “The evidence is clear that forcing completely rehabilitated elders to spend their final years in prison costs a fortune and delivers zero public safety benefit. They have the lowest rates of reoffending once released, and the highest incarceration costs.”
Opponents, however, have said the proposals ignore the gravity of the original crimes and underestimate the risk of reoffending.
Raphael Mangual, a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research, a prominent conservative American think tank, believes both measures are gaining popularity among local officials in New York and could pass as soon as this year.
He told the New York Post: “I think it’s a real risk, especially given the recent decline in crime in New York City. I think that might have led to a space where people might be more tolerant than they were five years ago of engaging in this kind of experiment.
“It really shouldn’t matter how well somebody behaves in prison. You should have behaved before you got there.
“You hear people who will say with very full confidence, including the advocates, that the likelihood of a person reoffending zeroes out in older age. No it doesn’t. A majority of state prisoners who are released will reoffend.”
Police groups have also voiced strong opposition, with Patrick Hendry, the president of the Police Benevolent Association, telling the Post that “passing either of these bills would be a cruel and despicable blow to the families of our fallen heroes”.
He added: “There is no age and no formula that can absolve cop-killers of their heinous crimes or entitle them to rejoin society.”
- The Telegraph
Sign up to Herald Premium Editor’s Picks, delivered straight to your inbox every Friday. Editor-in-Chief Murray Kirkness picks the week’s best features, interviews and investigations. Sign up for Herald Premium here.