Many of Alaska’s first-time criminals may face tougher sentences under a bill approved Friday by the Alaska Senate.<\/p>\n
In a 19-1 vote, lawmakers approved Senate Bill 54, a measure that rolls back some of the changes made in last year’s push for criminal justice reform.<\/p>\n
Though that push has not even been fully implemented, lawmakers heard a storm of protest from constituents who are seeing a surge in crime locally.<\/p>\n
“It was a response to the cry from around Alaska,” said Sen. John Coghill, R-North Pole, of SB 54.<\/p>\n
Coghill was the principal legislative backer of last year’s reform push and of this year’s measure.<\/p>\n
One of the key provisions of SB 54 allows judges to put first-time Class C felony convicts in jail for up to one year. Current sentencing guidelines, enacted last year, allow only suspended sentences for first-time C felonies.<\/p>\n
C felonies are the lightest felony crimes 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
Official estimates indicate SB 54 may cost the state as much as $4.3 million more per year, though the exact figure is unclear.<\/p>\n
[Rolling back criminal justice reform would cost Alaska millions<\/a>]<\/p>\n Last year’s reforms were called Senate Bill 91 and represented one of the biggest changes to Alaska’s criminal justice system<\/a> in decades. SB 91 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 Senate Finance Committee during testimony.<\/p>\n SB 54 ignores that principle in favor of longer jail terms.<\/p>\n