INDIANAPOLIS — Nonviolent offenders in Indiana would spend more time in community corrections programs and less time behind bars under criminal sentencing reforms endorsed Wednesday by the state's Chief Justice Randall T. Shepard.
Those changes would help reduce recidivism rates, make offenders who have completed their sentences more employable and save money, Shepard, an Evansville native, told members of the Indiana General Assembly during his annual State of the Judiciary.
"In my own career, I've handled felony cases for the theft of $6, and I've signed warrants for lethal injection," he said.
"In between those polar opposites, making sound decisions about which offenders are so risky that a prison cell is the only right sentence and which offenders may respond well to local alternatives makes all the difference."
Shepard said he supports the set of proposals that came as a result of a state-commissioned report by the Pew Center on the States and the Council of State Governments Justice Center.
It was the second day in a row that the leader of one of Indiana's three branches of government called for criminal sentencing reforms.
Gov. Mitch Daniels did during his State of the State address to lawmakers Tuesday night.
Daniels said such changes would "see that lawbreakers are incarcerated in a smarter way, one that matches their place of punishment to their true danger to society."
"We can be tougher on the worst offenders, and protect Hoosiers more securely, while saving a billion dollars the next few years. Let's seize this opportunity without waiting," he said.
The sentencing reforms Daniels is pushing would result in those convicted of drug and theft crimes receiving lighter sentences. Indiana would create a graduated system for those convicted of possessing or selling cocaine, methamphetamine and other drugs.
The aim is to slow the growth of prison populations. The Indiana Department of Correction now houses 29,000 offenders, and is near capacity.
"The package of sentencing reforms before you is based on reliable ethics, on actual experience. I think it's good for Indiana, and I join Gov. Daniels' endorsement," Shepard said.
Shepard discussed three more issues during his address: the work the courts have done to limit mortgage foreclosures; technological advances the courts have made in recent years; and "plain English" jury instructions that avoid legal jargon.
He touted the work that judges and attorneys have done since a new law took effect that guarantees Hoosiers an opportunity to have a face-to-face conversation with their lenders before a home can be foreclosed upon.
He said half of those who have requested such a hearing have reached a settlement that allowed them to keep their homes.
The technological advances Shepard touted include e-mail and text alerts sent to those who have filed for protective orders when those they have sought the orders against are notified.
As for the "plain English" jury instructions, he said, in the past, judges might have given juries garbled and tough-to-understand explanations of the difference between direct and circumstantial evidence.
Now, he said, the instruction is: "Direct evidence that an animal ran in the snow might be the testimony of someone who actually saw the animal run in the snow. Circumstantial evidence might be the testimony of someone who only saw the animal's tracks in the snow."