For two months now, officials involved in central Arkansas' criminal justice system have been brainstorming ways they can improve the system at the state, county and local levels.
The Capital City Crime Prevention Task Force -- started by Little Rock Mayor Mark Stodola -- brings together judges, prosecutors, state legislators, criminal defense attorneys, city officials and state Department of Community Correction leaders.
The hope? That with all of those players on board, systemwide changes can be implemented to better run the criminal justice system from start to finish, resulting in offenders getting treatment and not recommitting crimes, as well as fewer crimes being committed in the first place.
Friday marked the second monthly meeting of the group, which so far has worked to identify questions to tackle in forthcoming meetings. How might procedural issues be fixed? How to get those charged with crimes the treatment that would help them become productive during the waiting period before their trial, instead of after they are sent to jail?
State Sen. Jeremy Hutchinson, R-Little Rock -- who is not a task force member -- gave an overview to the group Friday of recently passed Act 895, which he co-sponsored in the state Senate. He said the act addresses three areas of the criminal justice system: treatment, supervision and jail space.
As far as sentencing goes, the legislation only changed one aspect of that -- making residential burglary a violent crime. Hutchinson said the idea was that offenders would serve more time incarcerated for the crime, thus drilling home the message that this is a serious offense.
"What we have been doing hasn't been working," said task force member Sen. David Sanders, R-Little Rock. "If in fact we take a harder stance and there are consequences to this, hopefully [there will be fewer offenders]. That was the reasoning behind it."
The sentencing change drew criticism from Stodola, who said he had a hard time wrapping his head around classifying burglary, which occurs when homeowners aren't present, as a violent offense.
The most important issue Act 895 addresses is treatment, Hutchinson said. Currently, the state Department of Community Correction has a $1 million budget to help 55,000 people on probation or parole. That isn't enough, officials said.
Now, the agency signs up every inmate for Medicaid or the private option if they are eligible, said department Director Sheila Sharp, who is a task force member. County jails have also been authorized under the Act 895 to sign up inmates for health insurance. And then treatment can be set as a condition of probation or parole.
"We will say that as a condition of probation or parole, you have to get this treatment. They will be able to pay for it and get the treatment they need," Hutchinson said.
As far as supervision goes, the act added an additional 47 parole officers, but it also authorized police officers to enforce parole responsibilities. For instance, if someone is pulled over and the police officer sees they are on parole, the officer can search the parolee's vehicle or residence to ensure he is meeting the conditions of his parole.
More money is being allocated for specialty courts across the state, which typically have alternative sentencing, and an additional 800 jail beds have been committed.
"It's a new direction the state has never tried before," Hutchinson said. "The philosophy has always been to fill more prisons, lock them up for longer, but it hasn't worked. ... We have to try something different. This is the first attempt at it."
Both state senators -- Hutchinson and Sanders -- mentioned measures that Texas and Georgia have implemented to result in better probation and parole systems, as well as less incarceration.
Omavi Shukur noted from the audience during the public comment portion of Friday's meeting that both of those states are doing the opposite of what some of Act 895 has done.
A former public defender in New Orleans, Shukur is now director of the local nonprofit Seeds of Liberation, which develops community-based solutions to problems in the state's criminal justice system, according to its website. Shukur said much of Texas' reform had to do with coming up with punishments other than jail time for probation and parole violations.
"There is [also] a lot of sentencing reform at the heart of the criminal justice reform in Georgia," Shukur said. "One sentence reformed was that of residential burglary. Instead of incarcerating people longer, they actually reduced the sentence for burglary."
The crime task force will meet every fourth Friday of the month. The next meeting is June 26 at 11:30 a.m. A location hasn't been set.
Metro on 05/23/2015