Lawlor has long advocated what was called in 2004 a "controversial bill" which focused on the increased release of prisoners instead of expanding correctional facilities to handle the increased number of offenders entering the system. Thanks to Lawlor's vocal advocacy the bill was co-sponsored by both Republicans and Democrats, passed unanimously in the State Senate, and only 9 out of 151 representatives in the House voted against it. The bill was then signed into law by Governor John G. Rowland. Lawlor's rationale was "The key is to resist doing the simple thing - dumping a bunch of money into a new prison," The response, to expand the number of inmates paroled, became controversial following the July 2007 home invasion murders of the Petit family in Cheshire, Connecticut by two paroled convicts. On August 26, 2007 he defended the state's policy on paroles in a Hartford Courant article "Some people say let's put them all in jail. OK, fine, but that means dramatically increasing taxes or shutting down a bunch of colleges." Due to the public outcry since the Petit murders, Lawlor agreed to hold hearings on Connecticut's parole system and called on state officials to investigate sites to build new prisons. "We are expected to receive information about the costs of these models and possible sites for new prison facilities," he said. State officials and national criminal justice experts testified at the September 11 hearing, with Chief State's Attorney Kevin Kane labeling the existing data system for criminal justice "nonexistent." Lawlor criticized the agencies for not having a system of communications among each other. A hearing open to the public was held on November 27, 2007.