The Indianapolis Star, in a report I read at the Muncie Star Press site which has an ad structure (drop down video ads) that makes the report almost unreadable, says that Gov. Daniels has indicated he would veto the current, amended, version of SB 561 concerning sentencing reform.
The original version was intended to reduce sentences for non-violent drug offenders and bring Indiana’s sentence in line with other states. The Prosecuting Attorney’s Council objected to some provisions and got the Senate to amend the bill in a way that the Department of Correction says would require construction of three new prisons.
The politics of sentencing is has a ratcheting effect. It’s politically easy to increase sentencing but tough to bring it back down. No politician wants to be “soft on crime,” and the fiscal impact is usually indirect enough that the politician can dodge charges of profligacy. And, in any case, in our political discourse, somehow spending on prisons doesn’t count as much as spending on other stuff. Maybe because it’s mean spending instead of nice spending. Nice spending is weak and wasteful. Mean spending is tough and necessary.
If possession were not a crime, then the “soft on crime” argument would disappear.
Except that, making possession not a crime would, itself, be regarded as being soft on crime. The War on (Some) Drugs is part & parcel of Law & Order politics.
I am *hoping* that the number of “users” serving time in state prison entirely for personal posession of drugs, is quite minimal. Can anyone confirm?
Well, if your last name is McDermott (probably the third most powerful Democrat in the state right now), and your daddy gives Mitch $10,000, you can get a pardon from Mitch for a pot bust.
Strange bedfellows, let me tell ya.