Missoula County opposes HB 553: Limit time of suspended sentences for felony convictions, heard Thursday, April 15, in the Senate Finance and Claims Committee.
HB 553 strips the District Court judges of the discretion to use probation as a tool to keep certain offenders (those struggling with meth use disorder) out of prison. It is an attempt by Montana Department of Corrections to reduce the probation population, with an extremely limited carve-out (homicide and sexual crimes) and unnecessarily complicates a statutory scheme that is already too entangled in overlapping cross-references. The result will save money in the short term but increase the crime rate in the medium and long term.
Below is a proposed amendment that will avoid these unintended consequences, which would allow a judge, in any felony case, to make an exception, based on an offender's individual dangerousness--not on the category of crime committed, to impose a longer, treatment-based sentence.
Thank you for your consideration of these amendments.
Senators Boldman, Morigeau and Salomon,
ReplyDeleteMissoula County opposes HB 553: Limit time of suspended sentences for felony convictions, heard Thursday, April 15, in the Senate Finance and Claims Committee.
HB 553 strips the District Court judges of the discretion to use probation as a tool to keep certain offenders (those struggling with meth use disorder) out of prison. It is an attempt by Montana Department of Corrections to reduce the probation population, with an extremely limited carve-out (homicide and sexual crimes) and unnecessarily complicates a statutory scheme that is already too entangled in overlapping cross-references. The result will save money in the short term but increase the crime rate in the medium and long term.
Below is a proposed amendment that will avoid these unintended consequences, which would allow a judge, in any felony case, to make an exception, based on an offender's individual dangerousness--not on the category of crime committed, to impose a longer, treatment-based sentence.
Thank you for your consideration of these amendments.