Senate Leadership
January 22, 2008
Senate Democrats Lead Passage of Bi-partisan Criminal Justice Reform Bill
Unanimously approved bill means:
- Stiffer sentences for violent offenders
- New Home Invasion crime
- Full-time Parole Board so all parolees are properly vetted
- Improved repeat offender law to keep career criminals off the street
- Electronic criminal justice information sharing system
- Expanded GPS tracking system for parolees
- Increased investment for re-entry programs
- Better, more efficient services for victims
Senate President Donald Williams, Senator Majority Leader Martin Looney, and fellow Democratic Senators are heralding the approval of a comprehensive criminal justice reform package that will toughen sentences for violent and repeat offenders; overhaul the state's parole system; strengthen prisoner re-entry programs; and improve services for victims.
"The tragedy in Cheshire exposed flaws in Connecticut's parole and criminal justice systems," said Senator Williams. "Today we passed a comprehensive criminal justice reform package that will make Connecticut's families safer. These reforms include toughening sentences for violent offenders; closing loopholes fixing the parole system, and investing in re-entry programs that will help protect communities in which parolees are being released."
"While there were differences of opinion about same part of the bill, it is remarkable that in the end, it passed unanimously," said Senator Looney. "The people of Connecticut demanded real reform and that's what we passed this evening."
A detailed list of the various elements of the bill follows:
- Creates the new crime of Home Invasion (minimum 10 years in prison).
- Makes persistent offender law easier to apply--so the most violent career criminals will be kept off the street.
- Replaces the inadequate part-time parole board with a full-time, trained professional board (with risk assessment tool).
- Improves notification services for victims.
- Increases the number of staff-secure, diversionary, and re-entry beds for parolees and sex offenders with treatment and counseling.
- Requires GPS monitoring for approx. 300 more parolees.
- Creates a state-of-the-art information technology system so all appropriate agencies can instantly share information.
- Invests in re-entry programs in Hartford, New Haven, and Bridgeport.
- Terminates re-entry furloughs for those near the end of their sentences--which is currently offered without any services / protections to the public.
- Ends Administrative Review for parolees and requires an in-person or video hearing before a person is paroled, with notice to the victim and an opportunity to be heard.
"The bill also includes funding, approximately $2 million in the current fiscal year and $17 million next fiscal year, so we can start enacting real reforms right now, not in July, at the start of the new fiscal year," said Senator Williams. "These investments are responsible, targeted, and in-line with the state's spending cap"
Another important element of the bill is the change to Connecticut existing 3 strikes law. Prosecutors seeking to convict someone as a "persistent offender" will no longer have to prove that an offender has "a history and character that ... indicate that extended incarceration will best serve the public interest." Instead, prosecutors will simply have to show that the defendant has the requisite number of previous convictions necessary to apply a longer sentence. This change has the support of criminal justice experts and the Governor's Task Force.
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Senator Williams’ Derek Slap |
Listing of Leadership’s recent press releases. |
Senator Looney’s Derek Slap |
