SENTENCE REFORM ON HOUSE AGENDA

MONTGOMERY Three bills designed to fix what many believe is Alabama's
broken criminal sentencing system will top the state House of
Representatives calendar Tuesday.

Approved with virtually no opposition by the House Judiciary
Committee last week, the proposals from the Alabama Sentencing
Commission are the product of about two years of work aimed at finding
punishments other than prison for property criminals while reserving
lockups for convicted killers, rapists and robbers.

The bills also are aimed at moving Alabama toward a
truth-in-sentencing system by 2006, under which parole is abolished
and convicts serve their full sentences. If enacted into law, the
bills would:

Raise the felony theft threshold from $250 to $500 to keep pace with
inflation, which would send thousands fewer property criminals to
prison in the years ahead.

Expand the use of community punishment programs for non-violent
convicts. They now are available in only 21 of Alabama's 67 counties.

Move the state in three steps over three years to a
truth-in-sentencing system, under which parole is abolished and
convicts serve 100 percent of their sentences.

Rosa Davis, chief assistant attorney general and a member of the
Sentencing Commission, said the package of bills represents the
panel's efforts to analyze Alabama's sentencing system and propose
steps to fix it.

"The three bills constitute a multi-faceted approach from three
different directions," said Davis. "The theft bills recognize that
Alabama is out of line with other states and raises the felony
threshold to the level recognized in most other states."

Almost derailed:

Stern opposition to the felony threshold bill by Alabama retail
merchants concerned about losses from repeat offenders almost derailed
the reform package in the Judiciary Committee two weeks ago. But a
compromise to leave the felony threshold at $250 for repeat offenders
brought a unanimous vote of approval by the panel Wednesday.

State Rep. Marcel Black, D-Tuscumbia, chairman of the committee and
sponsor of the reform package, said he was glad Davis and Charles
McDonald, president of the Alabama Retail Association, both approved
the compromise.

"We're singing out of the same hymn book, but we're not singing very
loud," said McDonald.

"Those muted tones are music to my ears," Black said before his
committee's vote.

Davis said the second bill in the reform package expands community
corrections programs. It recognizes the need for an increase in
effective punishments at the community level to require offenders to
pay restitution to victims and otherwise to hold them more accountable
for their crimes.

The bill would authorize Alabama counties to set up locally run
punishment programs as alternatives to prison for non-violent
offenders. It would authorize judges to sentence such offenders
directly to these programs instead of to prison.

"The third bill recognizes the need for overall sentencing reform,
recommends appropriate sentences for judicial consideration and
identifies offenders appropriate for community punishment," Davis said.

The sentencing reform bill would schedule a series of changes in
Alabama's sentencing structure to be phased in by 2006. The changes
would be made in annual stages, with each stage requiring a vote of
the Legislature.

If enacted into law, the first phase would provide judges in July with
a manual of the state's top 25 crimes along with the commission's
suggestions on which of those might be better punished in a community
program.

The commission also would begin this year to educate judges,
prosecutors, defense lawyers and others about the proposed new system.

Next year, if the Legislature approves, the commission would implement
phase two of the reforms. That would involve informing judges about
the length of sentences being imposed in their circuit and statewide
for each crime and suggesting voluntary standards for sentences.

In 2005, if the Legislature approves, the commission would inform
judges about the average length of time convicts are actually serving
on their sentences.

In 2006, if the Legislature approves, paroles and time off sentences
for good behavior would be abolished for all convicts, and new
truth-in-sentencing standards would be adopted.

Under the truth-in-sentencing system, each convict would be required
to serve 100 percent of the sentence imposed by the judge, after which
they would be required to serve a year of post-release
supervision.

Inmates no longer would be allowed to count 75 days off their
sentences for each 30 days of good behavior. Instead, they would stand
to have their sentences increased up to 20 percent for bad behavior.