Pubdate: Wed, 14 Apr 2004
Source: News & Observer (NC)
Copyright: 2004 The News and Observer Publishing Company
Contact:  http://www.news-observer.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/304
Author: DAN KANE

PRISONS PITTED AGAINST LAWS

Symposium Looks For A Balance

RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK -- Eleven years ago, North Carolina's prisons were 
so overcrowded that some criminals were paroled almost as soon as they went 
to their cells. It's not as bad today, thanks to a prison construction boom 
and revised sentencing laws that toughened penalties for violent offenders 
while steering more nonviolent criminals to probation, drug treatment and 
community service.

But projections show the state will need several thousand new prison beds 
by 2013 to cover the increasing demand. And that led a coalition of 
criminal justice experts, drug treatment professionals and social justice 
advocates to join together Tuesday at a "Smart on Crime" symposium to look 
for ways to reduce the need for cells without endangering North Carolina 
communities.

"North Carolina is at a crossroads," said Laura Sager, executive director 
of Families Against Mandatory Minimums, a symposium co-sponsor. "It could 
continue to build more prisons, or build on its thoughtful sentencing 
policies."

Her group is a Washington-based nonprofit seeking to overturn tough 
sentencing laws for nonviolent drug criminals and repeat offenders. It 
supports the N.C. Sentencing and Policy Commission's proposals to reduce 
some sentences to eliminate the need for roughly 4,600 prison beds over the 
next 10 years.

In particular, the family group endorses the commission's proposal to 
revamp the state's 37-year-old habitual felon law, which allows prosecutors 
to classify nonviolent criminals as repeat offenders who would have to 
serve at least 3 years, 8 months in prison once they receive their fourth 
felony conviction.

Prosecutors say they need the law to get repeat offenders off the streets 
before they commit more crime. But critics say it punishes nonviolent 
criminals too harshly.

Prosecutors rarely used the law until the sentencing reforms took place 10 
years ago. Today, they are putting more than 600 habitual felons behind 
bars annually, and those inmates represent a fast-growing segment of the 
prison population.

The commission's proposal would increase the sentences for habitual felons, 
but not as dramatically as the current law. But it and the commission's 
other proposals have not caught fire in the General Assembly.

Some legislators at the symposium said that's got to change because the 
cost is taking money away from education and human service programs that 
can steer people away from a life of crime.

"There is a balance between maintaining safety in the community and 
punishing violent criminals, and it's time for the legislature to revisit 
structured sentencing and habitual felon laws," said Rep. Beverly Earle, a 
Charlotte Democrat and co-chairwoman of the House Appropriations Committee.
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