(Oregonian) SALEM — Faced with a $78 million hole in the state public safety budget, lawmakers are proposing to save money by delaying a voter-approved measure requiring longer sentences for property thieves. Also, they want to release prisoners early for good behavior and ease penalties for people caught with small amounts of drugs.
The bill also would make nonviolent criminals eligible for early release based on good behavior. Estimated savings: $8 million.
“I don’t like letting people out of jail,” said Rep. Jeff Barker, D-Aloha, the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee and a veteran of 31 years in law enforcement.
“If it wasn’t for the budget crunch, we wouldn’t be having the debate,” he said. “But the cuts are so devastating that we have to save money.”
Barker estimates the state could save $95 million to be plowed back into prisons, courts and state police.
Gov. Ted Kulongoski sent a letter Monday praising the four Democrats who led the negotiations.
The deal will “generate enough savings to maintain critical public safety services like State Police 24/7 patrol, Oregon Youth Authority beds, court days and other services,” he wrote.
The state’s prisons budget has grown 20 percent each biennium since 1995.
Oregon already has marijuana decriminalization up to an ounce, but there are still those caught in the system with more than that amount and those who were growing marijuana. Legalization of marijuana, as proposed by Oregon NORML in the Oregon Harm Reduction Act, would cut the costs associated with enforcing marijuana laws in the state ($61.5 million, as estimated by Jeffery Miron) or at least allow them to be redirected to the “State Police 24/7 patrol, Oregon Youth Authority beds, court days and other services.” Then the money raised from the taxes and profits on consumer cannabis could also be “plowed back into prisons, courts and state police.”
How long will our states be able to afford the fruitless endeavor of trying to stop adults from smoking cannabis and leaving all that market’s riches to criminals?
