Pubdate: Mon, 15 Mar 2004
Source: Tampa Tribune (FL)
Copyright: 2004, The Tribune Co.
Contact:  http://www.tampatrib.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/446
Note: Limit LTEs to 150 words
Author: Robert Batey
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/prison.htm (Incarceration)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?199 (Mandatory Minimum Sentencing)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/opinion.htm (Opinion)

PROBATION CRACKDOWN AN OVERREACTION

The arrest of Joseph Smith in the rape and murder of young Carlie Brucia - 
which occurred while he was on probation for a previous crime - has focused 
attention on Florida's law of probation. Spurred on by the media, our 
representatives in Tallahassee have proposed several welcome changes in 
that law, including greater supervision for all probationers and more drug 
treatment programs for addicts like Smith.

But amid these good suggestions is one proposed change that would have 
shockingly bad results. Legislation pending before the Florida Legislature 
would establish a five-year mandatory minimum sentence for any probationer 
who commits any crime, even a misdemeanor, while on probation. So if a 
person on probation for a breaking into a car shoplifts a candy bar, he is 
going away for at least five years - and we will be paying the bill.

A recent Associated Press story gives an inkling of how much this proposed 
legislation might cost. In recent years California has cracked down on 
parole violators - so much so that the state now houses about 40 percent of 
all the imprisoned parole violators in the country. The additional cost of 
imprisoning these violators is $1.1 billion annually, almost a quarter of 
the total California spends on incarceration.

And what did California get for this massive expenditure? Its crime rate is 
about the same as those of other populous states that imprison 
substantially fewer parole violators.

Consider The Cost

In Florida there are thousands more people on probation than on parole. If 
we begin sending probation violators to prison - each for five years 
minimum - our prison budget will soar even more than California's did. Our 
legislative leaders think they have a budget crisis now, but it is nothing 
compared with what will happen if this mandatory minimum sentence is adopted.

There are only two limitations to the proposed legislation. One is that the 
probationer has to have been convicted - at any time in his or her life - 
of a "forcible felony." That term seems to require a serious crime, but as 
defined by Florida law, "forcible felony" includes picking up a knife 
during a domestic dispute, taking something through the open window of a 
car, snatching the purse of a woman slumbering at a bus stop, or climbing 
over a fence to steal a bicycle from a back yard.

The other limitation is that the crime for which the defendant is on 
probation must be punishable by up to five years' imprisonment. But that is 
true of every felony in Florida, including purchasing any amount of 
marijuana, cockfighting, possessing a still and tampering with a car's 
odometer.

What about the few cases where such a sentence is necessary? Florida's 
judges already have the power to act in those instances, to give the 
sentence this proposed statute would require. And you can bet that after 
Carlie Brucia's rape and murder resulted in such vigorous criticism of the 
judge who failed to revoke Joseph Smith's probation, all our judges will be 
quick to use that power.

In short, the proposed five-year mandatory minimum sentence for probation 
violators is both incredibly costly and totally unnecessary. Our 
legislators would be foolish to include it in any reform of Florida's law 
of probation.

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Robert Batey is a professor of criminal law at Stetson University College 
of Law.
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