Legislature(2013 - 2014)BELTZ 105 (TSBldg)
02/25/2013 01:30 PM Senate JUDICIARY
| Audio | Topic |
|---|---|
| Start | |
| Confirmation Hearing | |
| SB43 | |
| SB22 | |
| Adjourn |
* first hearing in first committee of referral
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
| + | TELECONFERENCED | ||
| += | SB 43 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| += | SB 22 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| + | TELECONFERENCED |
SB 43-PROPERTY CRIMES
1:39:18 PM
CHAIR COGHILL announced the consideration of SB 43. [CSSB 43,
labeled 28-LS0401\U was before the committee.] He opened public
testimony.
1:39:58 PM
NEISJE STEINKRUGER, retired superior court judge, clarified that
she was speaking for herself to provide information about the
resources used in the criminal justice system. She explained
that over the past two decades, a number of crimes have moved
from a misdemeanor to a felony, which has shifted work from the
district court to the superior court. She noted that district
courts handle misdemeanor cases and impose sentences of up to
one year and superior courts handle felony cases and impose
sentences of more than one year. She pointed out that penalties
for theft crimes have not shifted to the "bigger hammer" but the
sheer numbers of theft cases can have an impact on the system.
JUDGE STEINKRUGER said "the felony machine" uses the biggest
hammer everywhere along the way, the first of which is the grand
jury. Whenever someone is charged with a felony, the case first
goes before a grand jury. Depending on the location, between 30
and 60 private citizens are called every month for grand jury
selection. At least 18 citizens are selected along with 6-10
alternates. Again depending on location, those jurors go in
every week for one to three months to do one to three days of
work. People often are unaware of the impact this has on private
citizens, but it's a big part of the felony machine, she said.
The second part of the machine is the witnesses' time. Quite
often law enforcement officers are called to testify in grand
jury but private citizens must testify as well. There is also
significant Department of Law time. Once a case is charged as a
felony, the court appoints counsel and that involves the Public
Defender Agency and/or the Office of Public Advocacy. Because of
the way these crimes are set out, it takes the experienced
people in these offices to handle felonies.
The case is then handled in superior court and because it's a
felony, it is seldom resolved quickly. Often there are felony-
level bail hearings, which mean time for the court and
continuances. Once there is a plea agreement or the trial is
over, the Department of Corrections (DOC) potentially has to
prepare a presentence report, assign a probation officer, and
the person is on felony probation.
JUDGE STEINKRUGER said the criminal justice system has limited
resources so it's important to look at the whole package and
decide how to spend those limited resources. She asked the
committee to consider whether it wanted to spend it on domestic
violence, sexual assault, child abuse, and violence in general
or on things that aren't at the highest end of public safety.
She highlighted that in misdemeanor cases the judge has the
discretion to sentence up to one year, and that sentences for
felony theft are almost uniformly under one year.
1:50:14 PM
SENATOR DYSON asked what percentage of felony theft cases plead
out before they go to trial.
JUDGE STEINKRUGER estimated that now it would be about 95
percent.
CHAIR COGHILL said he appreciates the context of her testimony.
1:51:41 PM
CHRIS NETTELS, President, GeoTek Alaska, Inc., Anchorage, AK,
said he was also testifying on behalf of the National Federation
of Independent Businesses to ask the committee not to pass SB
43, which would increase the $500 felony threshold for theft and
property offenses. He reported numerous incidents of stealing at
his business property, four of which were thefts valued at $500
or more. In the past two or three years he has seen a
significant increase in the numbers of petty thefts valued at
$200 to $300, but in the last year there have been several
thefts valued between $1,000 and $3,500.
MR. NETTELS expressed concern that increasing the felony
threshold will have the unintended consequence of increasing the
numbers of some crimes. He said he understands the argument for
increasing the felony threshold because of inflation, but
wonders if all laws will be similarly inflation proofed. He also
asked if the penalties would drop if deflation occurs.
He concluded that the $500 felony threshold has served well and
he did not support passage of SB 43.
1:54:48 PM
CHAIR COGHILL, speaking as the sponsor, said he certainly had no
argument about how violated somebody feels when thievery occurs
in their business.
SENATOR DYSON commented that inherent in the foregoing testimony
is the notion that thieves know when the value of a theft passes
from a misdemeanor to a felony, and make decisions based on that
knowledge. He asked if that's a logical deduction.
MR. NETTELS said yes; he opined that if the bill passes, the
word will get out and it will encourage people to take on more
risk in stealing things.
1:56:49 PM
CHAIR COGHILL asked if he'd had trouble making a case to the
police or courts in felony theft cases.
MR. NETTELS said no, although he had never received a follow up
call or had any property returned in any of the five reports he
filed with the police.
CHAIR COGHILL asked Detective Plummer if the police were more
likely to respond to a felony theft report as opposed to a
misdemeanor theft report.
1:58:34 PM
}DETECTIVE ROSS PLUMMER, Anchorage Police Department (APD)*
Municipality of Anchorage* Anchorage, AK, said yes.{ He
explained that APD detectives work felony cases and patrol
officers are responsible for follow up on misdemeanor cases, but
call volumes leave little time for follow up. If a misdemeanant
suspect isn't caught right away or if there isn't a tip that
locates the suspect, the chance of closing the case is very
small.
CHAIR COGHILL asked if a felony theft would receive more
detective-level involvement.
DETECTIVE PLUMMER said yes; felony thefts receive two
screenings, one by patrol and the second by detectives, whereas
misdemeanor thefts receive just one screening by patrol.
CHAIR COGHILL asked if businesses had a valid fear that raising
the felony threshold would cause misdemeanor thefts to receive
less police attention.
DETECTIVE PLUMMER acknowledged that there was that chance.
2:01:18 PM
NANCY MEADE, General Counsel, Alaska Court System (ACS),
Anchorage, AK, directed attention to the charts in the packets
of criminal theft charges and disposition for 2012.
MS. MEADE reviewed the class C felony and class A misdemeanor
criminal theft charges filed in 2012 and noted that the 3,611
total charges were split evenly between felonies and
misdemeanors. The conclusion, she said, is that misdemeanor
thefts come into the courthouse at about the same rate as felony
thefts.
2:05:12 PM
MS. MEADE reviewed the 2012 criminal theft charge dispositions
affected by SB 43, which show that there were more than twice as
many misdemeanor theft convictions as felony theft convictions.
In 2012, there were 1,208 misdemeanor convictions for theft and
512 felony convictions for theft.
MS. MEADE referenced an earlier question and pointed out the low
trial rate. Of the 493 theft 2 felony convictions: 13 were
guilty after trial, 443 were guilty after a guilty plea, and 31
were guilty after a no contest plea.
The statistics show that less than one-third of the theft 2
class C felony charges ended in convictions. Of 1,738 charges
filed, 493 resulted in convictions and 995 resulted in no
convictions. By comparison, there were 869 convictions and 578
no convictions for theft 3 class A misdemeanors.
MS. MEADE noted another factor with theft 2 is that there are
more dispositions than charges, which means that some
convictions are coming from somewhere else. She said a likely
conclusion is that some cases were dismissed when the defendant
accepted a guilty plea to a lesser charge. Although there may be
other explanations, it's clear that at least some of the 952
dismissals were charged in the theft 2 category but disposed in
the theft 3 category. She said she didn't have exact numbers but
several hundred wouldn't be an unreasonable estimate based on
these statistics.
2:09:31 PM
SENATOR DYSON surmised that a $600 theft often is disposed as a
misdemeanor.
MS. MEADE said the statistics don't provide that information,
but it's not illogical.
SENATOR DYSON asked about the process for getting citizen rights
returned after serving time for a felony conviction.
MS. MEADE deferred the question.
2:11:06 PM
JEFF JESSE, Chief Executive Officer, Alaska Mental Health Trust
Authority (AMHTA), Anchorage, AK, testified in support of SB 43.
He said he looks at the bill from several perspectives based on
his work experience and he appreciates the concerns of business
regarding professional thieves. However, they take a much more
sophisticated approach to crime than his clients. He related
that when he was a juvenile public defender he was struck by his
clients' lack of sophistication in either anticipating
consequences or taking basic steps to avoid detection.
MR. JESSE stated that the unintended consequence of not
increasing the felony theft threshold to keep up with inflation
is that more mental health beneficiaries receive felony charges
and that precludes them from therapeutic courts. He acknowledged
that the system self-corrects somewhat with more plea agreements
to lesser charges, but expressed continuing concern about
limiting access to therapeutic courts. He highlighted that the
idea of therapeutic court is to keep people from cycling through
the system.
MR JESSE said his other concern relates to the barrier crime
issue. Among other obstacles, a convicted felon faces numerous
barriers to employment despite the knowledge that the best way
to reduce recidivism is to ensure that a person has a job that
provides a legitimate means of support.
MR. JESSE reiterated both his sympathy for businesses that
suffer theft crimes and his belief that people who aren't
necessarily professional criminals need to be treated in a way
that gets them out of the cycle of criminal behavior. Increasing
the penalty, stigmatizing them, and reducing their opportunities
to avoid recidivism is not the answer.
2:15:52 PM
JANET MCCABE, Partners For Progress, testified in support of SB
43. She said that PFP has long been concerned that too many
nonviolent Alaskans are in prison. Ten years ago, the majority
of prisoners were violent offenders, whereas today over 60
percent of prisoners are serving time for a nonviolent offense.
The consequence is that the state is spending a lot of money on
incarceration that otherwise could be spent for education and
infrastructure.
She highlighted that because of outdated felony thresholds, many
nonviolent offenders receive felony sentences for stealing what
would have been valued at $200 in 1978. She suggested that
Alaska should follow what all other western states have done and
raise the felony threshold.
MS. MCCABE cited statistics that show that 95 percent of all
prisoners return to the community, but that felons face over 400
legal barriers to life in the community. Most felons find it
difficult to rent an apartment or find employment and often
can't even qualify for food stamps. She related that even
conservative Texas Representative Jerry Madden has advised
legislators to lock up true felons and help the others join the
lawful community. She urged the committee to follow that wise
advice and pass SB 43.
2:18:57 PM
SEAN CROUSORE, District Loss Prevention Coordinator, Fred Meyer
stores of Alaska, testified in opposition to SB 43. He said that
Fred Meyer is a full-line grocery and general merchandise
retailer that would suffer if SB 43 were to pass.
He explained that thievery has changed over the years and today
Fred Meyer faces professionals who steal merchandise like Dyson
vacuum cleaners, KitchenAid mixers, iPods, and flat screen TVs.
He said the prices of these products have deflated over time,
which means that the theft of three or four flat screen TVs
doesn't reach the $1,500 threshold that the bill proposes.
Furthermore, the items that professional thieves steal are very
low margin and the cost comes out of the stores' profits from
which wages and benefits for nearly 3,000 associates are paid.
He asked the committee to reconsider the legislation. It will
lead to more theft and a bigger hit to retailers' profits.
2:25:27 PM
CHAIR COGHILL asked if Fred Meyer had any trouble getting the
police to respond to misdemeanor thievery.
MR. CROUSORE said no; Fred Meyer tries to bring only those cases
to the police that it can prove intent.
CHAIR COGHILL said his written testimony would be welcome.
2:26:32 PM
TOM STENSON, Legal Director, ACLU of Alaska, said he expected to
hear testimony from retailers that thieves are currently
stealing just under $500 because they know the boundary for a
felony. That wasn't the case. The committee heard that people on
the street will know that the felony standard has changed, but
not that people's behavior is affected by the current low felony
standard.
He said the written testimony from Fred Meyer was that
professional thieves are stealing two Dyson vacuum cleaners or
four flat screen TVs, but Dyson vacuum cleaners cost between
$300 and $500 so a theft of two vacuums is already a felony
offense. Based on that testimony, the current $500 statutory
limit doesn't appear to make any difference to people.
MR. STINSON pointed out that unlike robbery, homicide, rape, or
assault, theft offenses are ones where commercial operators like
Fred Meyer can manage security to discourage theft. He opined
that some commercial stores want to pass the costs associated
with their business on to the state. That doesn't seem like an
appropriate use of state resources and it's not clear that it
would deter anybody, he stated.
2:31:50 PM
CHAIR COGHILL stated that he would not close public testimony.
SENATOR MCGUIRE asked the sponsor to consider both a $1,000
threshold and using the criminal conspiracy statues to make the
crimes stackable. She said she didn't see any reason for
retailers to change their advertising, because stealing is a
crime in the state of Alaska.
CHAIR COGHILL held SB 43 for further consideration.
| Document Name | Date/Time | Subjects |
|---|---|---|
| Felony Theft bill.pdf |
SJUD 2/25/2013 1:30:00 PM SJUD 3/1/2013 1:30:00 PM |
SB 43 |
| Final Sectional for SB 43.docx |
SJUD 2/25/2013 1:30:00 PM |
SB 43 |
| Letter from NFIB.pdf |
SJUD 2/25/2013 1:30:00 PM |
SB 43 Letter from NFIB |
| ACLU Letter ofSupport 2013.pdf |
SJUD 2/25/2013 1:30:00 PM |
Ltter from ACLU |
| FredMeyerTestimonySB43.doc |
SJUD 2/25/2013 1:30:00 PM SJUD 3/1/2013 1:30:00 PM |
SB 43 |
| Graph of felony thefts in US.pdf |
SJUD 2/25/2013 1:30:00 PM |
Graph for SB 43 |
| NCSL Felony thresholds.pdf |
SJUD 2/25/2013 1:30:00 PM |
NCSL Felony Thresholds |