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A growing chorus of California district attorneys is sounding the alarm as violent sex offenders — including child molesters and rapists — are being released under the state’s elderly parole program, a loophole that puts communities and children at risk. Prosecutors in Los Angeles and Sacramento have publicly warned that the program, as currently applied, has allowed inmates with long records of sexual violence to win parole hearings despite the severity of their crimes. This is not theoretical fearmongering; county DA offices are posting lists of parolees and calling for immediate reform.
The elderly parole scheme began as a narrow policy but has been broadened over time, lowering eligibility to inmates 50 and older who have served 20 years, a change that critics say removed common-sense safeguards. That expansion, written into law in recent years, did not exclude those convicted of heinous sexual crimes against children, creating a dangerous one-size-fits-all rule that treats monsters and nonviolent offenders the same. Californians deserve clarity and protection, not surprises when predators walk out of prison because of a technicality.
Sacramento County’s own elder parole postings make the problem painfully concrete: names like David Funston, Roberto Padilla, Darryl Farris and others appear on lists of those granted parole hearings or released, with case summaries that read like the worst newspaper crime blotters. These records show admitted violence, manipulation, and in some hearings even admissions that the offenders still harbor dangerous impulses — yet commissioners have sometimes ruled they are no longer an unreasonable risk. Voters should be outraged that parole paperwork can read like a roadmap of who must never be trusted near children again.
The political establishment’s response has been weak and defensive, with state senators reconfirming parole commissioners even after public outcry and victims’ horror at some releases. Lawmakers on both sides have proposed fixes, but some measures have stalled or failed, and partisanship has distorted what should be a straightforward public-safety decision: protect the vulnerable, especially children, over ideological experiments in criminal leniency. The parole board’s insistence on rigid “risk assessment” doctrine cannot trump common-sense judgments about ongoing danger.
There is bipartisan momentum for real reform — Assemblymember Stephanie Nguyen’s AB 2727 would tighten eligibility for those convicted of one-strike and other serious child-sex offenses, raising the age and length-of-service requirements and forcing Sexually Violent Predator screening before release. District attorneys from Los Angeles, Sacramento and Orange County have publicly supported the bill as a necessary step to close a dangerous loophole and ensure civil commitment is considered before predators are discharged into neighborhoods. Lawmakers and the governor must stop posturing and pass common-sense protections so victims aren’t retraumatized.
Americans who value safety, family, and accountability should reject the soft-on-crime logic that treats dangerous sex offenders as a budgetary problem rather than the ongoing threat they are. Our priority must be protecting children and upholding the punishment judges and juries imposed, not rewarding the passage of time with freedom for those who brutalized the innocent. It’s time for voters to pressure legislators, support prosecutors who put victims first, and demand a return to policies that keep our neighborhoods safe.
