Lexington Herald Leader Editorial: [Kentucky] Supreme Court Upholds Sanity.
Supreme Court upholds sanity
It wasn't even close. A unanimous Supreme Court upheld the Beshear administration's early release of thousands of inmates.
The opinion makes clear that the legislature intended for the early- release program to apply to people sentenced before it became law and that the legislature was well within its authority to do so.
Yet both Attorney General Jack Conway and Commonwealth's Attorney Eddy Montgomery had filed legal challenges, and Pulaski Circuit Judge David A. Tapp issued a statewide injunction against releasing inmates under the program.
You're thinking, well, sure, that's what prosecutors do: put people in jail and argue for keeping them there. And certainly prosecutors should advocate for strong law enforcement.
But if Kentucky is to overcome the crushing financial burden of a prison population that's grown 42 percent in this decade, prosecutors will have to be part of the solution.
And that will require them to abandon knee-jerk responses in favor of helping lawmakers and the administration develop smarter approaches to crime and punishment.
Kentucky is locking up too many non-violent offenders and for too long. Prisons and jails are robbing schools and other state services, while doing little to fix the root cause of much crime, which is addiction.
With the recession draining state coffers, the legislature can't delay reforming the penal code. The legal fight over the early-release program is an example of how contentious that debate will be.
Montgomery, the prosecutor who filed one of the challenges, said it will be difficult to explain the Supreme Court's support of the early-release program to victims of crime.
That doesn't give Kentuckians enough credit for being able to put the state's priorities into perspective. The public, including crime victims, will support penal reform if their leaders communicate the reasons and the trade-offs in straightforward, unemotional terms.
The Supreme Court ruling vindicates Court of Appeals Judge Sara Combs' decision to let the early-release program continue, despite the Pulaski Circuit injunction. It also upheld Franklin Circuit Judge Phillip Shepherd's rejection of Conway's challenge.
It wasn't even close. A unanimous Supreme Court upheld the Beshear administration's early release of thousands of inmates.
The opinion makes clear that the legislature intended for the early- release program to apply to people sentenced before it became law and that the legislature was well within its authority to do so.
Yet both Attorney General Jack Conway and Commonwealth's Attorney Eddy Montgomery had filed legal challenges, and Pulaski Circuit Judge David A. Tapp issued a statewide injunction against releasing inmates under the program.
You're thinking, well, sure, that's what prosecutors do: put people in jail and argue for keeping them there. And certainly prosecutors should advocate for strong law enforcement.
But if Kentucky is to overcome the crushing financial burden of a prison population that's grown 42 percent in this decade, prosecutors will have to be part of the solution.
And that will require them to abandon knee-jerk responses in favor of helping lawmakers and the administration develop smarter approaches to crime and punishment.
Kentucky is locking up too many non-violent offenders and for too long. Prisons and jails are robbing schools and other state services, while doing little to fix the root cause of much crime, which is addiction.
With the recession draining state coffers, the legislature can't delay reforming the penal code. The legal fight over the early-release program is an example of how contentious that debate will be.
Montgomery, the prosecutor who filed one of the challenges, said it will be difficult to explain the Supreme Court's support of the early-release program to victims of crime.
That doesn't give Kentuckians enough credit for being able to put the state's priorities into perspective. The public, including crime victims, will support penal reform if their leaders communicate the reasons and the trade-offs in straightforward, unemotional terms.
The Supreme Court ruling vindicates Court of Appeals Judge Sara Combs' decision to let the early-release program continue, despite the Pulaski Circuit injunction. It also upheld Franklin Circuit Judge Phillip Shepherd's rejection of Conway's challenge.
Labels: News reporting
posted by KYJurisDoctor at 8:41 AM
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