Kentucky lawmakers are advancing House Bill 169 (
http://www.lrc.ky.gov/record/18RS/HB169.htm). The legislation will add a large array of offenses to the “violent offender” category demanding 85% service of sentence before parole eligibility even though the underlying crimes involved NO acts of violence, it raises the offense one level if the underlying crime was committed by someone involved in gang activity. The bill expands the definition of “criminal gang” to three or more people who unfortunately share a name or live in the same geographic location or wear a color (and only requires one of these, specified traits), and has at least two members who have been involved in a “pattern” of criminal activity as defined by law enforcement. House Bill 169 would also allow young defendants convicted of gang recruitment to acquire felony charges after a first offense, while denying them the right to even prove that the identified group was never a gang.
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March [], 2018
Senator Robert Stivers II
702 Capitol Ave
Annex Room 236
Frankfort KY 40601
RE: Groups Oppose House Bill 169; Legislation that Expands Gang Definition, Elevates Felonies up One Entire Class and Broadly Expands Number of Persons Required to Serve 85% of their Felony Sentence Before Even Seeing the Parole Board
Dear Senator Stivers:
We write in strong opposition to House Bill 169. This bill is designed to strip judges of discretion in sentencing young offenders. The bill expands the state’s definition of a gang, reclassifies misdemeanor gang offenses as felonies, and vastly expands the number of persons subject to the highly punitive 85% parole eligibility mandate while elevating low level offenses up one class simply by police and prosecutors establishing gang involvement with a greatly reduced evidentiary burden . Public safety goals will not be met by increasing the severity of prison terms in this manner. The proposed legislation is also expected to be expensive.
Kentucky’s HB 169 makes it a felony for adults – who now face misdemeanor charges for criminal gang recruitment – to engage in that crime. HB 169 would also allow young defendants convicted of gang recruitment to acquire felony charges after a first offense. The bill expands the definition of “criminal gang” to three or more people who unfortunately share a name or live in the same geographic location or wear a color (and only requires one of these, specified traits), and has at least two members who have been involved in a “pattern” of criminal activity as defined by law enforcement. House Bill 169 would also allow young defendants convicted of gang recruitment to acquire felony charges after a first offense, while denying them the right to even prove that the identified group was never a gang.
Lawmakers are considering HB 169 amidst claims that gang involvement is growing and solely responsible for incidences of violent crime. Kentucky’s prison population increased over 500% since 1980(1) at tremendous social and financial cost. During this period, the rate of violent crime rose, then fell, rose again, then declined sharply. The best single proximate explanation of the rise in incarceration is not rising crime rates, but the policy choices made by legislators to greatly increase the use of imprisonment as a response to crime.
Finding solutions to violent crime will make Kentucky safer. Reclassifying misdemeanor offenses as felonies and expanding the definition of a criminal gang move the state in the wrong direction. Kentucky lawmakers have already been tough on crime and substantially increased prison terms. According to the Urban Institute, Kentucky is among 44 states that have experienced an increase in time served since 2000.(2) In fact, the state has experienced a double-digit increase in the amount of time persons sentenced to state prisons are required to serve. And Kentucky experienced the largest state prison population increase since its prison system peaked in 2016; the system grew by 10%. In the same year, 42 other states at least modestly reduced their prison systems. (3)
Solutions to address violent crime must be grounded in evidence based research. Researchers have also compared the relative importance of both certainty and severity to meet punishment goals. In a 2001 study published in the journal Criminology, researchers studied a sample of college students to address the likelihood of drinking and driving. The study concluded that the certainty of punishment was a stronger predictor of deterring crime than the severity of punishment. Increasing the probability of apprehension by 10% was predicted to reduce the likelihood of drunk driving by 3.5%, while the effect of a harsher criminal sanction declined when the effects of certainty and severity were combined. (4)
Similarly, evidence-based violence prevention initiatives have been shown to reduce crime. These community-based efforts position qualified persons to locate potentially lethal disputes in progress and respond with a variety of conflict-mediation strategies. These professionals are hired in part for their ability to work among those at-risk of violence in the community and are also important connectors to social services like affordable housing and job training. Research shows these efforts are successful at preventing violent crime. For example, New York City experienced 20 percent fewer killings attributable to the program. And in Chicago neighborhoods, there was a reported 41-73 percent reduction in shootings and killings – and a 100 percent reduction in retaliation killings. (5)
Strengthening public safety is a concern for state lawmakers in other parts of the country too. Fiscal crises and support for proven practices have led many policymakers to question the over-reliance on incarceration. Prison is an expensive sanction and sentencing people to longer prison terms has consumed limited resources. In fact, young people are more likely to become embedded in criminal activity while serving these long prison terms which offer no recognition for good behavior or opportunity for rehabilitation. Long-term solutions to gang violence include investments in education and job training initiatives. Short-term solutions include funding community-based initiatives proven to prevent gang violence by supporting local efforts that help supervise and monitor teenage peer groups through social networks that facilitate adult and youth interaction.(6 )
HB 169 moves in the opposite direction by unduly expanding Kentucky’s “gang” laws and stripping elected Kentucky judges of their discretion. Solutions to violent crime must be grounded in evidence-based policy approaches that fairly meet public safety goals. For these reasons, we strongly oppose HB 169.
Sincerely,
1) U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics, Prisoners in 2016, 4 tbl.2 (Jan. 2018), available:
https://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/p16.pdf and Prisoners in 1980, 2 tbl.1 (May 1981), available:
https://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/p80.pdf 2) Courtney L, Pelletier E, Eppler-Epstein S, King R, and Sakala L. (2017). A Matter of Time: The Causes and Consequences of Rising Time Served in America’s Prisons The Urban Institute. Available at:
http://apps.urban.org/features/long-prison-terms/about.htm 3) Ghandnoosh, N. (2018). Can We Wait 75 Years to Cut the Prison Population in Half? The Sentencing Project. Washington D.C. Available at:
https://www.sentencingproject.org/publications/can-wait-75-years-cut-prison-population-half 4) Wright, V. 2010. “Deterrence in the Criminal Justice System” The Sentencing Project Available:
https://www.sentencingproject.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/Deterrence-in-Criminal-Justice.pdf 5) Porter, N. and Volker, K. 2015. “Treating the Infectious Disease of Violent Crime” Governing Available:
http://www.governing.com/gov-institute/voices/col-city-homicide-treating-infectious-disease-violent-crime.html 6) Coleman, James S. 1988. “Social Capital in the Creation of Human Capital.” American Journal of Sociology 94: S95- 120.
