Barbara Levine is quoted in this article about the new 25-year mandatory minimum for repeat offenders.
By Nancy Derringer, Bridge Magazine
FOUR STRIKES NARROWED: The House last week approved a revised version of a so-called “four strikes” bill aimed at repeat felons that could affect only 70 offenders per year. A Senate version of the idea approved in the spring could have required an extra 7,000 prison beds. (Bridge archive photo)
“Concerns about prison costs this year have not deterred the Legislature’s appetite to tweak Michigan sentencing rules. Last week, the House, following the Senate, approved a version of a “four strikes” bill designed to put violent offenders behind bars for a minimum sentence of 25 years.
Senate Bill 1109 passed the House last week on a vote of 98-10, after a different version cleared the Senate 32-5 earlier in the year.
The bill goes back to the Senate for consideration of the changes.
The measures incorporates a “4 strikes and you’re out” concept touted by Attorney General Bill Schuette last winter which called for a mandatory 25-year sentence for a violent crime perpetrated by a criminal who has committed three previous felonies. In the first reaction to Schuette’s proposal, the state Corrections Department estimated a potential increase in spending at up to $1 billion.