02/02/1994 02:20 PM Senate JUD

 SENATOR HALFORD introduced SB  24 (EXTEND MAXIMUM PERIOD OF                   
 PROBATION) and invited the sponsor, SENATOR DAVE DONLEY, to testify           
 on his bill.                                                                  
                                                                               
 SENATOR DONLEY explained SB 24 would change the maximum period of             
 probation a court may order for a criminal offense from five years            
 to ten years, is part of the Governor's anti-crime package, and               
 supported by the Departments of Law, Public Safety, the Alaska                
 Association of Chiefs of Police, and the Network on Domestic                  
 Violence and Sexual Assault.  He said it was also a recommendation            
 of the Sentencing Commission and further explained it would                   
 increase the protection to the public from the type of offenders              
 who need supervision to prevent their recidivism.                             
                                                                               
 SENATOR JACKO asked why there was no fiscal note to keep these                
 people on probation for a longer time.                                        
                                                                               
 SENATOR DONLEY answered the fiscal notes only extend for five                 
 years, so it wouldn't make an impact until the sixth year.                    
                                                                               
 SENATOR JACKO pressed for an actually fiscal implication, but                 
 SENATOR DONLEY said it was difficult to project at this time, since           
 it was hard to determine how often it would be utilized by judges.            
 He said it was an option.                                                     
                                                                               
 SENATOR JACKO asked if the cost of probation for five years could             
 be extrapolated to 10 years.                                                  
                                                                               
 SENATOR DONLEY answered the legislature sets the budget for the               
 probation officers, but unfortunately, it is not broken out per               
 case.  He suggested it would vary at different times.  SENATOR                
 DONLEY suggested there might be some cases where there would be a             
 saving if a judge, in fashioning other than mandatory sentences may           
 want to fashion a flexible sentence - using more probation rather             
 than actual jail time.  He referred to the Position Paper to                  
 describe the difficulty in estimating the cost.                               
                                                                               
 SENATOR JACKO noted the bill next would be going to the Finance               
 Committee, and an answer might be found in committee, which he                
 thought was important.                                                        
                                                                               
 SENATOR HALFORD asked MARGO KNUTH, from the Department of Law, to             
 testify on the bill.  She said the department does support the                
 bill, and she addressed the cost question by asked how much would             
 be saved by the system if one sex offender was prevented from re-             
 offending, which results usually in substantial incarceration time.           
                                                                               
 MS. KNUTH noted two types of cases where the judges want the                  
 flexibility of longer probation time, the first being the sex                 
 offender cases, because there is a high rate of recidivism.  She              
 explained the extra probation time could keep the sex offenders in            
 treatment programs.  The second area of crime for added probation             
 is when a lot of restitution is owed to the victim, and MS. KNUTH             
 explained how restitution could be made part of probation.                    
                                                                               
 Number 069                                                                    
                                                                               
 SENATOR JACKO contended extra probation would put more people under           
 the watchful eyes of the government and incur costs.  MS. KNUTH               
 believed it might save money by preventing recidivism.                        
                                                                               
 SENATOR HALFORD invited further debate on SB 24 and asked for the             
 will of the committee.                                                        
                                                                               
 SENATOR JACKO asked if the legislation would provide less than five           
 years of probation, and SENATOR DONLEY explained it was up to the             
 judges for the award for probation, with a current maximum of five            
 years.  He said it would have no effect on any minimum decided by             
 the judge, and they had a general discussion on the use of may              
 rather than shall in the drafting.                                          
                                                                               
 Number 090                                                                    
                                                                               
 SENATOR LITTLE moved to pass SENATE BILL NO. 24 (EXTEND MAXIMUM               
 PERIOD OF PROBATION) from committee with individual                           
 recommendations.  Without objections, so ordered.