How much is too much of a rollback?<\/p>\n
On Monday, the Alaska Senate Finance Committee will debate a final amendment to Senate Bill 54, a measure that intends to roll back some of the changes made by last year’s criminal justice reform bill, SB 91.<\/p>\n
The amendment addresses sentences for Alaskans who commit a Class C felony for the first time in their lives.<\/p>\n
C felonies are the lightest felony crime in Alaska law, and C felony criminals represent 40 percent of the state’s prison population. Any changes to their sentences have a big impact on the cost of the state’s prison system.<\/p>\n
Senate Bill 91, one of the biggest changes to Alaska’s criminal justice system in decades, was touted as using an evidence-based approach to emphasize treatment and diversion instead of prison.<\/p>\n
The core idea behind the bill was that prison terms for lesser offenses trap people in a cycle. If they go to jail, they can’t keep a job. If they can’t keep a job, they’re more likely to turn to crime to survive.<\/p>\n
“You put them in jail, they’re more likely to commit a crime in the future,” John Skidmore, head of the criminal division of the Alaska Department of Law, told the finance committee on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
SB 91 made first-time C felonies a probation-level offense, unless special circumstances were involved.<\/p>\n
As it is written today, SB 54 would allow judges to sentence first-time C felony offenders to up to a year in jail. That’s more than the 90 days agreed upon by Alaska’s Criminal Justice Commission in a rollback plan earlier this year.<\/p>\n
Sen. Lyman Hoffman, D-Bethel and co-chairman of the finance committee, said he wants to consider changing that year-long limit.<\/p>\n
“The amendment that I am contemplating is to address this range,” he told the committee Friday.<\/p>\n
Hoffman was granted until Monday to draft the amendment, an action that delayed the bill’s move to the Senate floor.<\/p>\n
Speaking by phone, Kara Nelson, director of the transitional home Haven House, said she feels the finance committee should reduce its rollback.<\/p>\n
“I think that they had a good compromise at 0-120 days, and it should stay there,” she said.<\/p>\n
Nelson testified against the bill earlier in the week, and that 120-day limit was suggested — but rejected — in the Senate Judiciary Committee.<\/p>\n
Sen. John Coghill, R-North Pole and the sponsor of SB 54, said through a staffer that he supports the 120-day limit likely to come from Hoffman.<\/p>\n
Whether the committee accepts that goal remains to be seen.<\/p>\n
“We will have a chance to discuss that amendment on Monday,” said Sen. Natasha Von Imhof, R-Anchorage.<\/p>\n
Sen. Anna MacKinnon, R-Anchorage and co-chairwoman of the committee, said the goal is to consider Hoffman’s amendment, then advance SB 54 to the floor on Monday.<\/p>\n
• Contact reporter James Brooks at james.k.brooks@juneauempire.com or call 419-7732.<\/b><\/p>\n
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