House Bill 1176 was recently sent to Georgia Governor Nathan Deal to sign into law, to reform prison sentencing and is aimed at alleviating overcrowding in prisons.

According to Gordon and Bartow County Superior Court Judge Scott Smith, the bill hopes to decrease the number of re-offenders by providing alternative sentencing.

“It is aimed at folks that are nonviolent getting long term supervision and changing habit of cause of the problem rather than warehouse them somewhere. The reform will try to find options and alternatives. It will have a better impact financially on our state, and at the same time attempt to assist us in helping these folks not repeat offenses,” said Smith. “Simply putting people in prison has not had the deterrent effect we would have liked. We are looking for other ways to keep folks from re-offending.”

The bill restates things like weights of drug possessions, and clearly outlines certain crimes, differentiating misdemeanors, which are eligible for probation, versus felony charges which are given prison time.

Often times, non-violent crimes are grouped together with serious felony crimes, although the degree to which a crime is committed may be significantly more or less severe. “In 2010, more than 5,000 lower-risk drug and property offenders with no prison history were sent to prison, accounting for 25 percent of all admissions,” according to The Summary of Provisions from the Report of the Special Council on Criminal Justice Reform, from the Georgia General Assembly.

For example, burglary was changed to a two-tier definition, outlining different punishments for residential burglary versus commercial burglary, according to Gordon County District Attorney Joe Campbell.

Residential burglary typically results in homicide, and is more severely punished, said Smith.

“The lower the amount of drug then the less available sentence. We may have probation times that varies around the state, and we may have more lengthy probation and less ‘in’ (prison) time than some,” he said.

The same is true for theft cases. Originally, the law stated theft over $500 was considered a felony. Due to inflation in the economy, the dollar amount was increased in the bill reform to $1500 to reflect those changes, according to Campbell.

Additionally, for marijuana cases, possession over one ounce and under 10 pounds was considered a felony. All amounts were grouped together. Under this stipulation, a corner small drug deal, for consumption over an ounce was placing a non-violent offender in jail for many years. With the new reform, probation will be a more cost efficient sentence for smaller amounts for consumption. Consumption is not to be confused with trafficking, which, according to Campbell, “is an entirely different monster. “

Good news for Gordon County is, according to Smith, they are already “ahead of the game,” with a drug court in place for the last four years.

“There are certain goals of the criminal justice system, one is a preventative measure, and one is rehabilitative, and that’s what you’ve got drug courts for,” said Campbell.

Financial Deductions

Currently, Gordon County taxpayers contribute over $4 million in total fees to operate the county jail, every year since 2009. It is budgeted to remain the same, according to the Gordon County budget for fiscal year 2011-2012.

On a more broad scale, the state of Georgia is in the top ten for the highest percentage of its population incarcerated. According to Campbell, 50,000 inmates are given a bed, food and medical care, some for a life term. Additionally, 100,000 are currently on probation or supervised by the state.

Though Campbell and Smith both state there is not an expected revenue gain to be made by the county nor any substantial case load increase, there is a potential for money savings, but both agree it will take time to truly see if the new reform, HB 1176, will indeed create a substantial decrease in cost of caring for inmates and recurring crimes.

Ultimately, drug courts defined use and implementation called for by the reform, is the key, and both Smith and Campbell agree, in this regard, the reform will be beneficial.

“I don’t expect that the drug court is going to be effected a whole lot because the law really aims at or what it really looks to do is increase the drug court’s presence as an alternative, we (Gordon County) are a step ahead of the game,” said Smith.

“There are certain goals of the criminal justice system, one is a preventative measure, and one is rehabilitative, and that’s what you’ve got drug courts for,” said Campbell.

Judiciary and law Enforcement Changes

Gordon County prosecutors will have to change the way in which recommendations for sentencing are drafted, according to Campbell, but there is still time before the reform becomes effective.

“There are a lot of little things that haven’t been worked out yet. It starts in January of next year and January the following year. So we will have some time to know what we need to do in drafting and how to structure sentences,” said Campbell.

The Gordon County Sheriff’s office has stated that training has commenced for deputies in response to the reform to ensure its staff is capable of enforcing the reform.

“So much depends on the sentences imposed by the court, whether it involves prison time or jail time, and there is a lot of changes to the law. It’s procedural things that will impact the way we interact with the prosecutors office,” said Gordon County Sheriff’s Office Deputy Chief Robert Paris. “There are changes to rules of evidence which will have a major impact on how prosecutors and law enforcement handle cases,” he said.

Ultimately, the response from judiciary as well as law enforcement is unanimous that change will not be evident in regards to positive or negative changes for up to six months to a year, according to Paris.

Campbell said reform is necessary to alleviate jail and prison overcrowding, and says the reform will process perpetrators through the system quicker.

“That’s where the issue will be, is will they process them better, therefore they would be there for short term ‘shock incarceration’ to sort of get somebody’s attention to get them to understand that there is some accountability and responsibility as part of their sentence,” said Campbell.

To process perpetrators faster would alleviate the amount of tax dollars spent to house inmates, according to Paris, by giving supervision sentences such as probation instead of jail time.

Additionally, Smith says he hopes public awareness for the judiciary system and law enforcement will become evident as funds are stretched thin for the work involved in prosecuting, sentencing, and enforcing set sentences.

“We are a non profit organization and we function off of grant funding and donations so hopefully this increase in public awareness will help it sustain the [drug court] program and grow to be larger,” said Smith.

Focuses prison beds on serious offenders

- Creates degrees of burglary based on the seriousness of the offense: Increase penalties for serious burglaries and establishes a graduated scale of penalties so that burglary of a residence is punished more severely than burglary of a non-residence.

- Creates degrees of forgery based on the seriousness of the offense: Increases penalties for serious forgeries and establishes a graduated scale of penalties based on the type of forgery.

- Creates levels of theft based on the amount of the theft: Raises the felony theft threshold from $500, which was set in 1982, to $1500, and creates a graduated scale of penalties for felony theft based on the value of the stolen items. Raises the penalty for the most serious theft (above $25,000) and increases the felony shoplifting threshold from $300 to $500.

- Revises penalties for simple possession of drugs: Creates degrees of drug possession based on weight and establishes a graduated scale of penalties, with higher penalties for third and subsequent convictions. Also restricts drug possession offenses from applying to the recidivist statute.

Reduces recidivism by strengthening probation

- Allows the courts to order electronic monitoring with all offenders.

- Allows probation to impose graduated sanctions that swiftly and certainly respond to offender violations.

- Requires the board of corrections to ensure evidence-based practices, including the use of a risk and needs assessment tool, are used to guide decisions relating to the management and treatment of inmates and probationers.

Improves community-based options such as accountability courts

- Requires the Administrative office of the courts to establish policies and practices fro drug and mental health court divisions, such as the use of tools that identify higher-risk offenders and develop supervision plans that reduce recidivism.

- Creates a certification and review process for drug and mental health court divisions and restricts state funds to certified programs.

Improves government performance

- Ensures public safety programs are achieving results by measuring performance and improving government effectiveness and efficiency. Requires the Board of Corrections to ensure that data and performance outcomes are relevant to the level and type of treatment given to inmates and probationers and the outcomes of the treatment on recidivism are collected and reported annually.

- Streamlines the transfer of information and inmates from the counties to the state. Requires sentencing “packets” to be submitted electronically to the state Department of Corrections from counties to reduce the time spent in jail awaiting transfer to prison.

- Ensures the effective use of probation detention centers (PDCs) by capping sentences to PDCs at 180 days, thereby reducing time spent in jail awaiting transfer to a PDC.