Mandatory-minimum sentences find favor in state Senate

Mandatory-minimum sentences, something the state moved away from when then-Gov. Nathan Deal oversaw an overhaul of Georgia’s criminal justice system, made a strong comeback this past week in the state Senate.

First, a Senate panel — voting along party lines with Republicans in favor — backed legislation seeking stronger penalties for recruiting gang members.

Senate Bill 44, which Clarkesville Republican Sen. Bo Hatchett sponsored on behalf of Gov. Brian Kemp, would give judges less discretion in determining sentences.

Anyone convicted of recruiting members to a street gang would be sentenced to five to 20 years in prison, and that time would not be served until after any other sentence for a gang-related crime was completed. There also would be no reduction in the sentence for good behavior.

In cases when the person being recruited is either under age 17 or has a mental disability, the minimum sentence would increase to 10 years.

Then the next day, the Senate passed legislation to vastly increase the minimum sentence for those who pay people for sex acts and those who collect the money.

Under Senate Bill 36, sponsored by Senate Republican Whip Randy Robertson, sentences for people convicted of pimping or pandering would increase from days to at least a year in jail. The bill passed 33-16 on a mostly party-line vote, with state Sen. Jason Esteves, an Atlanta Democrat, voting with Republicans.

SB 36 would require people convicted of pimping to serve one to 10 years in prison upon a first conviction. Currently, judges can choose to suspend all but three days of a sentence. The proposed legislation would not bar judges from suspending sentences.

A second pimping conviction would require a sentence of no less than one year in prison without any opportunities for a reduced sentence due to good behavior.

People convicted of pandering also would face one to 10 years in prison under the proposed legislation.

Republican lawmakers see mandatory-minimum sentences as a way to tamp down on crime, but opponents question their effectiveness.

Mazie Lynn Guertin, a lobbyist for the Georgia Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers who testified against SB 44, said “mandatory minimums don’t deter crime.”

“The research is clear that people, in reality, don’t look to see what the criminal code says, find the mandatory penalty and become discouraged by that penalty (from pursuing) whatever behavior it is they were going to pursue,” she said.

Hatchett, speaking about his gang recruiting bill, said he’s “not always for mandatory minimums.”

“But in this case, you’re talking about a group of individuals that are targeting children and trying to recruit them into a criminal enterprise,” Hatchett said.

Nathan Deal