Pubdate: Tue, 19 Apr 2005
Source: Columbia Daily Tribune (MO)
Copyright: 2005 Columbia Daily Tribune
Contact:  http://www.columbiatribune.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/91
Note: Prints the street address of LTE writers.
Author: Josh Flory, Tribune staff

HOUSE MOVES TO RESCIND EARLY-RELEASE LEGISLATION

JEFFERSON CITY - Just two years after lawmakers moved to ease sentencing 
for some nonviolent offenders, the Missouri House yesterday went in the 
other direction.

State representatives gave first-round approval to anti-crime measures that 
eliminate a provision allowing some nonviolent felons to seek early release.

Under existing law, offenders in prison for the first time who have been 
convicted of nonviolent Class C or Class D felonies can seek probation or 
parole after serving 120 days. That measure was adopted in 2003 as a remedy 
for Missouri's burgeoning prison population, which has grown by 11 percent 
in the last five years.

After the law was passed, though, the Missouri Supreme Court ruled that it 
applied retroactively, prompting Attorney General Jay Nixon to predict that 
thousands of inmates would be released.

So far, that prediction hasn't panned out. According to the state 
Department of Corrections, 913 inmates have petitioned for early release 
but only 37 have been successful. Lawmakers still appear eager to overturn 
the provision.

The bill that passed yesterday includes a section that eliminates the 
early-release provision, and a separate bill to do the same thing was 
scheduled to be taken up for debate as early as this week.

Rep. Scott Lipke, R-Jackson, said he is concerned about crime victims and 
said other provisions in the law already allow inmates to appeal for 
probation after a certain length of time.

"My belief is, if a jury or a judge . found you guilty and sentenced you to 
five years, that was the intended sentence for you," he said.

Lipke voted against the early-release provision in 2003, as did Rep. Jeff 
Harris, D-Columbia. Harris has been a frequent critic of the provision, 
saying today that it didn't make Missouri safer.

"We send the wrong message when we allow child molesters and meth cookers 
and burglars to seek release from prison . after only serving 120 days," he 
said.

Class C or D felonies can include crimes such as child molestation, 
forgery, drug possession or burglary. Though lawmakers were trying to stem 
costs with the early-release provision, Harris said, there are "significant 
administrative costs" to the state's handling hundreds of early-release 
petitions.

Harris is the co-sponsor of a separate bill repealing the provision, which 
could be debated this week.

Legislators often include provisions in multiple bills to increase their 
chances of final passage.

The Columbia representative is also the sponsor of legislation that expands 
the crime of endangering the welfare of a child to include producing meth 
in a home where a child lives. The crime now only describes cooking meth in 
the presence of a child.

The adopted bill must receive another vote in the House before moving on to 
the Senate.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Terry Liittschwager