Since October of 2024, twenty-six individuals convicted of murder or manslaughter charges have been paroled, accounting for nearly 80 percent of parole hearings held for those convicted for murder or manslaughter charges, under a 2023 law that expanded parole eligibility for those serving lengthy sentences and took effect last fall.
Of those who were paroled, 40 percent had previously received sentence commutations by the Board of Pardons and Paroles (BOPP), significantly reducing their original sentences, which ranged from 30 to 90 years and included one death sentence, according to information compiled by Survivors of Homicide, a nonprofit that provides services to families of homicide victims.
Connecticut’s expanded parole eligibility – which applies to individuals who committed a crime before the age of 21 and received a sentence of 10 years or more before October of 2005 – combined with sentence commutations means some individuals convicted of serious crimes like murder are serving lesser sentences and being released early, which can be distressing for victim families who are alerted to these various proceedings and often give victim statements, says Jessica Pizzano, executive director for Survivors of Homicide.
“A lot of the homicide cases from the 90s are coming up, and some of them are pretty horrific cases,” said Jessica Pizzano, executive director of Survivors of Homicide. “Some of them previously had a sentence commutation, so their sentence was already reduced, and they were able to get a parole hearing as well. Some of them maybe served half their sentence.”
In 2022, General Assembly Republicans raised the alarm over 44 murder commutations made between 2021 and 2022 by the BOPP that sparked a political uproar. Republicans criticized the murder commutations, holding numerous press conferences, and ultimately succeeded in getting Gov. Ned Lamont to pause the commutations and replace the BOPP chairman.
At both the federal and state levels, laws have been enacted to reduce criminal sentences for those convicted at a young age. Proponents of these reforms argue the human brain is not fully developed until the age of 25, and those receiving the commutations and paroles have shown personal growth while in prison, like receiving an education, and would now be a valuable asset to society.
Norman Gaines Jr. who had his life sentence reduced to 30 years by the State Supreme Court and then received a commutation testified before the Judiciary Committee that the commutation enabled him to become a coordinator at the Second Chance Reentry Initiative Program.
The expanded parole eligibility from 2023 hasn’t sparked the same political fight, but Pizzano says that victim families still feel the trauma of those crimes and can feel betrayed by the legal system when sentences – sometimes reached under plea bargain – are reduced.
“These families are struggling to put the pieces of their life back together and part of that is knowing that person will not be able to get out and hurt other people, and now they’re living the nightmare all over again,” Pizzano said. “It brings up the loss all over again. It puts a lot of our families in a trauma state. They feel betrayed. There’s no justice for our families anyway.”
However, Survivors of Homicide and other victim rights groups face a coming fiscal cliff that could greatly reduce, or even eliminate, their ability to help victim families as federal grant money tied to the Victims of Crime Fund (CVF) starts to dry up. Created by the Victims of Crime Act (VOCA), the CVF is funded through fines imposed for “white collar crime” but has been depleted due to years of lower fines and a congressionally imposed cap.
That could result in federal grant reductions upwards of 80 percent, enough to end Survivors of Homicide completely and force other nonprofits like the Connecticut Coalition Against Domestic Violence (CCADV) to cease providing certain services. The funding cliff means the state of Connecticut may have to step in to ensure victim service nonprofits can stay afloat.
A bill to fund Survivors of Homicide has been proposed in the General Assembly’s Appropriations Committee this session to fund the small nonprofit, which accounts for roughly $160,000, through the Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services, but other victim nonprofits are larger with bigger price tags.
CCADV offered testimony before the Appropriations Committee on February 14, indicating they expected a 30 percent cut in federal grants this year, and urging lawmakers to continue supporting their $1.2 million program that offers legal services to victims of domestic violence, and to approve $2.4 million Gov. Ned Lamont proposed in his budget to support the Connecticut Alliance to End Sexual Violence and the Connecticut Children’s Alliance.
“All states continue to grapple with the depletion of federal Victims of Crime Act (VOCA) funds. Connecticut has relied heavily on the use of federal VOCA funds to support services to victims of crime, including victims of domestic violence, sexual violence, and child abuse,” CCADV Vice President of Government and Public Relations Liza Andrews wrote. “Allocating resources to funding services for victims and survivors of child abuse and sexual violence in the state’s budget will offset the current crisis with decreased federal VOCA funds.”
Pizzano says with more paroles and commutations come more victim families who may feel they have been betrayed in their search for justice and need help, services her organization won’t be able to provide without help from the state.
“We’re increasing the needs for families but at the same time we’re cutting off the funding for the support that they need,” Pizzano said. “The proposed bill is a beacon for us, because at this point there’s no sense of when we’re going to find out about these federal grants.”
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When will we be having an honest conversation in the state of Connecticut? When will Richard Blumenthal take responsibility for ignoring the right of victims along with the other Democrats in Connecticut? While Connecticut bost about crime statistics and the surplus of money. Economics and social welfare. Where is the money going and coming from? Most people in the state of Connecticut are aware of the impact the welfare reform act has had on the way Connecticut handle crimes. A 2011 report to the United Nations and the rebranding of the violent crimes perpetrations and equality. Social justice project. While crime statistics are under reported and people are being let out of jail. Most of the money is funnel through social services. There are way more public defenders than prosecutiors. The biggest piece of TANF block grant funding pie to assist the poor is listed for ” other use”. The most voluntarable member of society are being held down by the people controlling the funding being used for themselves. The money that is supposed to be helping voluntarable member of society are being used to pay for the violent society at great gains to the state of Connecticut employees and government agencies. Under the empathy umbrella. There is no justice in the state of Connecticut. It’s legislation is based on profitable projects. That are ment for a small portion of deserving individual and manipulated to profit the state. At the risk of law abiding tax payer of Connecticut.