Bronster targets repeat offenders

Truth in sentencing and prison time for repeat felons will highlight legislative efforts

By Craig Gima
Star-Bulletin

Truth in sentencing and other measures targeting repeat offenders will be the focus of law enforcement efforts at the Legislature this session.

State Attorney General Margery Bronster, U.S. Attorney Steve Alm, prosecutors and police chiefs from all islands unveiled the law enforcement coalition's legislative package this morning.

"We have to get the repeat offenders, the people who are committing the majority of crimes behind bars," Bronster said.

She said the coalition will try again to pass a truth-in-sentencing bill which would mandate that people convicted and sentenced to jail time serve at least 85 percent of their sentence.

The bill died last year in the Legislature.

Alm noted that federal prisons do not even have parole as an option and strict sentencing guidelines in the federal courts have helped prosecutors.

"There's a real sense of integrity and consequences to the system. There's a lot to be said for a system of certainty in punishment," he said.

Another bill targeting repeat offenders would mandate prison time for convicted felons who are convicted of another felony.

A third bill is aimed at habitual criminal behavior. It would allow prosecutors to file a new felony charge against people convicted of three misdemeanors if they are prosecuted for a fourth crime.

Bronster said passing the truth-in-sentencing bill would enable the state to qualify for federal funds of about $500,000 a year.

She said she did not expect passing the three bills would have an immediate impact on the state's overcrowded prison system.

"You still have to have people commit the crimes, get convicted and get sentenced," Bronster said. "We believe these bills can be passed without sending our state prisons into a worse crisis," she said.

Bronster said the attorney general's office has consulted with the state Department of Public Safety, and she estimated it would take at least two years before the bills have an impact on the prison system.

"During that period we anticipate that additional prison space will be available," she said.

Bronster said the three bills will be the focus of the coalition's efforts and it will not seek to get the death penalty in Hawaii.

The 1998 Legislature convenes next Wednesday.