Copyright: 2003 Mobile Register
Contact: fcoleman@mobileregister.com
Website: http://www.al.com/mobileregister/today/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/269
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/prison.htm (Incarceration)

DON'T GIVE UP ON SENTENCING REFORMS

IT'S SHAMEFUL that an Alabama House committee allowed retailers to derail
the first of several broad sentencing reforms that will come before it,
because the changes proposed by the Alabama Sentencing Commission could
help solve the state's prison crises and bring more fairness into its
justice system.

The House Judiciary Committee last week voted 6-5 against a bill that would
raise the felony threshold on property crimes to $500. It's a minor, but
important change that would free prison space for more serious criminals,
yet not make our streets less safe. Nearly 10 percent of the state's prison
population was convicted of stealing property valued at under $500.

Changing the property theft laws is only part of a broader package that
could ultimately provide uniformity in sentencing and much-needed expansion
of community corrections programs. Taken together, these changes could
resolve Alabama's prison overcrowding without building more expensive
prisons, which often become overcrowded within months of opening.
Nonviolent offenses account for more than a third of all prison admissions
each year, even though, in most cases, those who commit nonviolent offenses
don't need to be locked up in state prisons to protect public safety.

Fortunately, there's a more sane way to allocate the state's corrections
dollars -- the state can put nonviolent convicts in less-restrictive local
detention, and keep violent criminals locked up longer.

Nevertheless, a slim majority of the House Judiciary Committee listened to
the special, narrow interests of the Alabama Retail Association, which
argued -- wrongly -- that changes would make things too easy on
shoplifters. County jail time, restitution and other penalties will be
viable options for those stealing property valued at up to $500.

Instead, opposing legislators should have joined their colleagues who
adopted the broader vision of the respected judges, lawyers, professors and
law enforcement leaders who sit on the Sentencing Commission.

When the committee rejected the first bill of the sentencing reform
package, it delayed -- perhaps endangered -- the entire package. That's
shameful, because the reforms are badly needed.

The state's overcrowded prisons hold more than 28,000 inmates, and if the
sentencing reforms are rejected, it will need to find room for another
5,000 or more within five years. Already, the state is housing overflow
prisoners in private lock-ups in Louisiana at a significant cost. Building
new prisons to handle even more inmates would cost tens of millions of
dollars to construct and millions more every year to operate. Putting
scarce state dollars into community-based probation and limited detention
programs would be a better use of scarce tax dollars.

Supporters of sentencing reform promise to regroup and bring the bills back
to the committee later in the legislative session. They should. And the six
committee members who defeated the theft bill can have another chance to
join their wiser colleagues who are already committed to doing what's right.