FIX SENTENCES NOW

The inevitable collision between Kentucky's get-tough-on-crime sentencing
laws and the cost of jailing criminals is occurring. In the interests of
justice, public safety and fiscal prudence, leaders of the state's court
system, the bar and elected officials need to put their heads together to
come up with some solutions.

Although the warning signs have been on the horizon for years now, a new
study by the author of the state's 1974 penal code presents the stark
problems in terms of shocking statistics.

Former University of Kentucky law dean Robert G. Lawson proposes a reform
of the state's sentencing laws. He is especially interested in looking at
those affecting two types of criminals - persistent felons and drug
offenders - who have been the targets of the mandatory sentencing rules
that have caused substantial increases in Kentucky's prison population.

As Courier-Journal staff writer Andrew Wolfson reported last Sunday, the
number of inmates in Kentucky's prisons has grown by 600 percent in the
last 35 years. Costs associated with incarcerating those people have
mushroomed from $7 million to more than $300 million annually.

This is not merely a Kentucky problem. Rather, it is a nationwide issue,
and it is part of the complex web of budgetary woes that increasingly
challenge state and federal officials.

The issue may have been most dramatically demonstrated in 2002, when former
Gov. Paul Patton commuted the sentences of some 567 convicted felons and
let them out of prison to save money.

That event touched off a firestorm of criticism. But, as Dean Lawson notes,
a good portion of those people were non-violent criminals, with deadbeat
dads alone making up 10 percent of the total.

The question is not whether Kentucky can afford to keep on this track.
Clearly, the state cannot, and especially not when Grover Norquist and his
no-new-taxes disciples have Kentucky's Governor and General Assembly in a
chokehold.

The question is how and how quickly to change course.

The best solution would be for experienced and pragmatic leaders in
Kentucky, notably Lt. Gov. Steve Pence, Chief Justice Joseph Lambert and
Dean Lawson himself, to replicate the kind of work that was done in the 1970s.

Then-Gov. Wendell H. Ford put together a blue-ribbon, bipartisan panel to
reform the penal code and create a system of credible, just, proportionate
and realistic penalties for lawbreakers.

Few really believe that such a process would produce the kind of disaster
that Fayette County Commonwealth's Attorney Ray Larson predicts in an
article in today's Forum.

Yes, bleeding hearts will still talk about the societal causes of crime and
the detrimental effects of imprisonment. But regardless of how much sense
they make, they are not apt to get very far in the current climate in
Frankfort.

Kentucky doesn't need to unlock the state's prison doors in order to start
making sure that those who wind up behind bars belong there and that
taxpaying citizens are actually getting safety benefits equal to the cost.

Judges need clear guidance about their parameters, though, and there is an
additional factor that makes reform of sentencing of great importance at
this time.

In just two years, most of Kentucky's judges, from district court all the
way to the Supreme Court, will be on the ballot.

At the same time, thanks to a U.S. Supreme Court decision in 2002, previous
campaign restraints won't be in effect, and these races threaten to become
more politicized than most Kentucky voters can imagine.

Indeed, Chief Justice Lambert, seeing the demagogic developments that have
overtaken other states' judicial elections, has already begun the process
of preparing Kentucky for the advent of bare-knuckle judicial races.

Justice for Kentucky will not be served if the existing excesses in
criminal sentencing and prison costs are made worse by campaigns seeking to
exploit citizens' fear of crime even more.

Taking stock of sentencing procedures and fixing them now, before 2006, is
not only sensible. It is essential.