7/27/07
Skip scare tactics on sentencing rules
Detroit Free Press Editorial
Some Republicans and law enforcement officials are using scare tactics to oppose modest and necessary changes to Michigan's sentencing guidelines.
The head of the Michigan Sheriff's Association said this week that a plan by the Department of Corrections, affecting sentences for nonviolent offenders, would cause death or injury. Attorney General Mike Cox went even further, arguing, in effect, that reducing felony penalties for ID offenses would make it easier for terrorists such as the 9/11 hijackers.
That's a little hyperbolic or, more bluntly, a lot of bull.
Tying reasonable changes in Michigan's sentencing guidelines to murder and terrorism is baseless and irresponsible. Legislators should ignore such rants and enact sentencing reforms that could save the state a much-needed $107 million over the next three years.
Michigan now spends nearly $2 billion a year on prisons. Despite owning the Midwest's highest incarceration rate, as well as one of the highest in the nation, the state still has higher crime rates than its neighbors. If Michigan had lockup rates similar to those of nearby states, it would save $500 million a year.
Time to revise
Sentencing guidelines have not been evaluated since 1998, and it's time to do so. Most of the proposed changes would divert offenders with sentences averaging 18 months from prison to lower cost community corrections programs. Offenses affected would include bad checks, larceny, drug possession and small-time drug dealing. Some small possession and delivery crimes -- such as possessing less than 5 grams of cocaine or 1 kilogram of marijuana -- would become misdemeanors instead of felonies.
Sentencing reforms would save the prison system 3,300 beds over the next three years -- half of that by raising the felony threshold on property crimes to $5,000 from $1,000. But the MDOC package would also increase penalties for the biggest property crimes and for repeat offenders.
The reform package, to be introduced by state Rep. Paul Condino, D-Southfield, reclassifies 142 felonies into one-year misdemeanors. On the list are many nonviolent crimes, including bouncing multiple checks, bribing an athlete, and knowingly releasing pollutants. Penalties for another 58 felonies, such as fleeing and eluding a police officer, would be reduced. A few outdated felonies, like dueling, adultery and teaching polygamy, would be eliminated altogether.
In general, states should reserve prisons for violent and dangerous offenders. But in Michigan last year, more than 60% of the 11,100 inmates admitted to prison were convicted of drug or nonviolent offenses. Most had sentences of two years or less. More than 16% came in with sentences of one year or less.
Some changes unwarranted
Cox has cited figures showing the percentage of inmates in Michigan serving time for nonviolent and drug offenses has decreased over the last 15 years. That's true, but only because offenders convicted of violent crimes are serving longer sentences and not getting paroled. The share of inmates entering prison for nonviolent and drug offenses is actually increasing, according to the Department of Corrections. Without changes in sentencing guidelines that divert more nonviolent offenders from prison, Michigan's corrections budget will continue to grow unnecessarily.
To be sure, the hundreds of changes proposed by Corrections aren't sacrosanct. Cox took serious issue with lowering penalities for those charged with fleeing and eluding police, citing the danger to officers posed by traffic fatalities. He ought to ask the administration to drop those changes. Other changes might also be in order.
But it's reckless simply to reject sentencing reform and create a climate of fear that prevents the state from moving forward. Michigan should do what other states have done: control its prison population and invest more in programs that keep people out of prison, like education and prisoner re-entry.
Republicans talk a lot about structurally reforming state government. But they have defended the failed policies of the past 25 years, policies that have tripled the state's prison population without reducing crime.
Modest changes in Michigan's sentencing guidelines are needed for a corrections system that safeguards the public while protecting the taxpayer.