juliwaits
09-14-2003, 12:41 AM
State Budget Crisis Leads Arkansas to Shorten Meth Sentences
Friday, March 21, 2003
An Arkansas state senator who helped spearhead a legislative crackdown on methamphetamine two years ago has introduced new legislation to shorten the sentences of some convicts doing time for meth trafficking offenses. Coming at a time when states throughout the country are considering alternatives to incarceration for non-violent drug offenders, Sen. Jack Critcher, D-Grubbs, said he offered his bill to pre-empt other legislation that might do even more to weaken sentencing laws that require convicts to do 70 percent of their time. “It’s an effective tool for the prosecutors. They’ve got to have it, and I don’t want to see 70 percent repealed,” Critcher said. “But if this is not passed, then something stronger is going to be passed to make it retroactive or repeal it altogether, and I don’t want that to happen.” A competing bill introduced by Rep. Sam Ledbetter, D-Little Rock, would repeal the 70 percent law altogether. Critcher’s bill, approved Thursday by the Senate Committee on State Agencies and Governmental Affairs, would grant meritorious “good time” to meth offenders convicted on or after July 1, effectively cutting a sentence under the 70 percent law in half to 35 percent of their sentence.
Larry Norris, director of the state Correction Department, said that, even with good time taken off, a meth offender sentenced to 10 years under the 70 percent law still would end up serving twice as much time as other convicts. Most convicts actually serve about one-third of their terms, or about 40 months of a 10-year sentence. He said the proposal would give prison officials another way to handle inmates. “We just think it will give us a tool to help manage these guys,” Norris said. “If they come in doing 10 years and they’ve got to do 84 months before anything happens, they have no reason to cooperate.” The prison director acknowledged that the law would do little more than make a dent in prison overcrowding, “but it wouldn’t hurt us.” Before the legislative session, Gov. Mike Huckabee blamed prison overcrowding on mandatory sentencing and other tough-on-crime measures passed in the last decade in response to a public outcry to keep felons behind bars longer. The Arkansas governor also questioned the wisdom of laws that require nonviolent offenders to serve 70 percent or more of their terms.
Friday, March 21, 2003
An Arkansas state senator who helped spearhead a legislative crackdown on methamphetamine two years ago has introduced new legislation to shorten the sentences of some convicts doing time for meth trafficking offenses. Coming at a time when states throughout the country are considering alternatives to incarceration for non-violent drug offenders, Sen. Jack Critcher, D-Grubbs, said he offered his bill to pre-empt other legislation that might do even more to weaken sentencing laws that require convicts to do 70 percent of their time. “It’s an effective tool for the prosecutors. They’ve got to have it, and I don’t want to see 70 percent repealed,” Critcher said. “But if this is not passed, then something stronger is going to be passed to make it retroactive or repeal it altogether, and I don’t want that to happen.” A competing bill introduced by Rep. Sam Ledbetter, D-Little Rock, would repeal the 70 percent law altogether. Critcher’s bill, approved Thursday by the Senate Committee on State Agencies and Governmental Affairs, would grant meritorious “good time” to meth offenders convicted on or after July 1, effectively cutting a sentence under the 70 percent law in half to 35 percent of their sentence.
Larry Norris, director of the state Correction Department, said that, even with good time taken off, a meth offender sentenced to 10 years under the 70 percent law still would end up serving twice as much time as other convicts. Most convicts actually serve about one-third of their terms, or about 40 months of a 10-year sentence. He said the proposal would give prison officials another way to handle inmates. “We just think it will give us a tool to help manage these guys,” Norris said. “If they come in doing 10 years and they’ve got to do 84 months before anything happens, they have no reason to cooperate.” The prison director acknowledged that the law would do little more than make a dent in prison overcrowding, “but it wouldn’t hurt us.” Before the legislative session, Gov. Mike Huckabee blamed prison overcrowding on mandatory sentencing and other tough-on-crime measures passed in the last decade in response to a public outcry to keep felons behind bars longer. The Arkansas governor also questioned the wisdom of laws that require nonviolent offenders to serve 70 percent or more of their terms.