Prosecutors back mandatory minimum sentencing in Pa.
District attorneys from across Pennsylvania have been out in force in recent days making a push for the state Legislature to restore mandatory minimum sentences for certain crimes involving drugs, children and the elderly.
House Bill 741 was voted out of committee last week 22-5 and is expected to be voted on by the the full House next week.
State Rep. Dom Costa, D-Stanton Heights, said he expects it will have bipartisan support.
But those who have followed the legislation don’t expect it to make it through the state Senate, where a similar bill never made it out of committee in the last session.
The Senate Judiciary Committee chairman, Sen. Stewart Greenleaf, R-Montgomery, is a critic of mandatory minimum sentences. In an interview Tuesday, Mr. Greenleaf said they have not worked and are “part of the failed
system.”
“I’m not going to perpetuate that,” he said, noting that he would review the House bill but would be surprised to support it.
“A judge has to make the decision,” he said. “Every case is different, and the sentence should match the crime.”
The bill does not have the support of Gov. Tom Wolf, either.
“We are strongly opposed to the bill and will continue to monitor it as it moves through the legislative process,” said spokesman J.J. Abbott.
Although the governor supports “tough sentencing for violent criminals,” Mr. Abbott said that mandatory minimums provide little enhancement to public safety, while increasing costs for housing more inmates — up to $85 million per year.
The state Supreme Court in 2015 struck down most mandatory minimum sentences in Pennsylvania, saying that they were unconstitutional because they did not provide the proper notice to criminal defendants as to the potential sentences that they faced. At that time, a defendant would be told only that prosecutors were seeking mandatory punishment after conviction.
The new legislation would require prosecutors to prove to the fact-finder at trial — whether a judge or jury — that they had met the elements triggering the mandatory sentence beyond a reasonable doubt.
On Tuesday, district attorneys from Allegheny, Butler and Washington counties gathered to show their support for reinstating the penalties.
Allegheny County District Attorney Stephen A. Zappala Jr. said his office typically defers to judges in regard to sentencing, but the legislation would establish mandatory prison terms for sex offenses against children and the elderly; for crimes on public transportation or in school zones; and for certain drug crimes, especially involving opioids.
“There’s very little disagreement among law enforcement with regard to these particular categories,” Mr. Zappala said.
The three prosecutors argued that by losing mandatory minimums, particularly in drug crimes, it has damaged their ability to get cooperation from defendants to go after large-scale traffickers.
“We lost a lot of leverage in terms of what we can do to move up the chain,” Mr. Zappala said.
Gene Vittone, the Washington County district attorney, agreed that he would use the mandatories to target drug traffickers.
“This is something we definitely need in the midst of this heroin/fentanyl epidemic.”
He estimated that 14,000 people out of Washington County’s 208,000 are drugaddicted.
There is other opposition to the bill, including from Pennsylvania’s secretary of corrections, John Wetzel, as well as groups such as the American Civil Liberties Union.
In a recent op-ed piece, Mr. Wetzel and DOC statistician Bret Bucklen wrote that there is no evidence that mandatory minimums increase public safety.
“Mandatory minimum sentencing laws require courts to treat all defendants the same, regardless of the facts of the case or the person’s circumstances,” they wrote.
Elizabeth Randol, the legislative director for the ACLU of Pennsylvania, said mandatory penalties don’t deter crime or reduce recidivism. “To start refilling our prisons based on a legislatively decided sentence is an abrogation of justice,” she said.
Paula Reed Ward: pward@post-gazette.com, 412-263-2620 or on Twitter: @PaulaReedWard. Karen Langley: klangley@post-gazette.com or 717-787-2141.