Published in the Pueblo Chieftain
CAPITOL AGENDAS
By JOSH PENRY
Coloradans dodged a bullet the other day in their fight against crime. The shot was fired by some misguided members of the ruling party in the Legislature - right at the heart of our state’s justice system.
It came in the form of a bill Democrats had introduced late in the session to slash criminal sentences on a wide range of crimes; it lowered penalties on felonies and misdemeanors including theft, burglary and drug crimes. The result would have been to let countless criminals loose on our streets.
It was no wonder our state’s top law enforcers were alarmed. District attorneys from across Colorado held a rare press conference at which they pleaded with lawmakers not to enact the legislation. Fortunately, the outcry forced the sponsors to back down late last month and scuttle this bad idea.
Unfortunately, that wasn’t the only attempt during the 2009 legislative session to undermine law and order. A perennial push to ban capital punishment is back. It passed the House of Representatives and was sent to the Senate. And an attempt to limit capacity in the state’s prisons is making its way through the General Assembly as well. Both pending proposals are touted as a way of cutting costs amid the state’s budget straits. Yet, they serve to broadcast a very troubling message to the criminal element everywhere: Welcome to Colorado; we’ll go easy on you.
Even those of us who have been calling on the legislative Joint Budget Committee to look harder for savings across the board - to tighten the belt of the bureaucracy just as Colorado families have had to in this recession - know there is one area we must tread lightly.
One of the government’s most fundamental responsibilities is to keep our communities safe. Policing our streets and rounding up the bad guys is not an option even when the state budget is tight.
Besides, any “savings” behind these proposals to cut corners on law and order typically are illusory, and proposals to put that revenue to a supposedly better use rarely hold up in a cost-benefit analysis.
For example, the latest pitch for abolishing capital punishment is that it somehow will save money if the state no longer prosecutes costly capital cases. The savings, we’re told, would be used to reopen unsolved murder cases. There is, of course, little if any connection; it’s a bait and switch that insults crime victims and their survivors. Yet, pretending that it’s about saving money helps mask the real motive: a narrow, ideologically motivated crusade against capital punishment.
Those who enforce our laws and prosecute wrongdoers are calling on the Legislature to abandon this proposal. The state’s top cop, Attorney General John Suthers, points out that capital punishment is the only appropriate response to certain crimes such as terrorism, mass violence and killing witnesses.
Most Coloradans, like most Americans, have faith in capital punishment. Every credible public opinion survey reinforces that fact. The public’s confidence is all the more warranted given advances such as DNA testing that all but eliminate the possibility of convicting the wrong person. To take this valuable tool and potential deterrent away from law enforcers makes no sense.
Of course, not all of us at the State Capitol are attempting to disarm those charged with enforcing our laws. Some of us are trying to empower them with helpful new tools. And we’re reaching across the aisle to get the job done.
One bipartisan bill that represents a great leap forward in fighting crime would collect and test DNA samples from criminal suspects arrested in our state, equipping law enforcement with a new database for solving a wide range of violent crimes.
Another bill protects especially our young people, criminalizing the widely abused and dangerous stimulant BZP. And a bill I introduced would extend the life of the Colorado Methamphetamine Task Force, advancing our fight against a drug that has one of the most corrosive, crippling effects on our state today.
All of these efforts enjoy support from Republicans and Democrats, alike, demonstrating how lawmakers can set aside partisan posturing to take up urgent concerns like protecting our communities and especially our children. That’s the spirit; we need more of it.
What we cannot afford to do, even in these tight times, is give in to the criminal element. In the long run, waving the white flag scarcely saves us a dime when compared with its costs - to our security and our peace of mind.
Sen. Josh Penry of Grand Junction is Republican leader of the Colorado Senate.