Republican state Senators, with active support from Mike Nozzolio, are trying to make it more difficult for some felons to get paroled in New York.

They also want to make more information about parole hearings available to crime victims and their families.

Legislation introduced this week in Albany comes in response to what Nozzolio characterizes as an “alarming” increase in the parole release rates for violent felons in the past year.

Because the percentage of eligible felons released has risen since Gov. Eliot Spitzer took office, it's been argued that a philosophical change or a shift in policy has entered the parole process. Others point out that the majority of the people on the state Parole Board were appointed by former Gov. George Pataki and say that each case is decided on its own merit.

In addition to cutting back on the number of inmates paroled, the new legislation would require the state Division of Parole to maintain lists of inmates and their parole eligibility dates on its Web site. It would make all crime victims eligible to receive notice of parole hearings and be advised of their right to make written or oral statements to the board, and it would also require an inmate's record of behavior while incarcerated to be available on the Internet.

We don't pretend to be experts on parole. There are a variety of factors that go into each decision and each convict's case is unique.

We're not sure that a blanket law making parole more difficult to achieve is needed, but increasing the flow of information about the process and giving crime victims more access to specific cases is a reasonable request, and the Division of Parole should be compelled to make it happen.