An independent study last week recommended extensive changes to Indiana's criminal sentencing system -- changes that will control the mushrooming prison population as well as save taxpayer money.
While those are two valuable reasons for making changes, the recommendations also will have a positive impact on the lives of those given lengthy prison sentences for relatively minor offenses.
It was encouraging to see Gov. Mitch Daniels embrace the changes proposed by the Pew Center on the States and the Council of State Governments Justice Center.
The review found the state's prison population grew by more than 40 percent -- or around 8,000 offenders -- in the last 10 years. Those are staggering statistics, given that the state's crime rate declined slightly over the same time period. The study indicated the prison population growth was largely a result of more property and drug offenders being sentenced to prison.
The report has three proposed categories of change:
* Improve proportionality in sentencing and ensure prison space for the worst offenders.
* Strengthen community supervision by focusing resources on high-risk offenders and creating incentives for supervision agencies to work better with one another.
* Reduce recidivism and bolster public safety by increasing access to community-based substance abuse and mental health treatment and enabling probation officers to respond with more effective and certain sanctions.
Of all the recommendations, the key seems to be allowing judges more leeway in sentencing those convicted of lesser felonies.
The Indiana Legislature -- and the nation as well -- got off track two decades ago when lawmakers decided they were better positioned than judges to impose sentences. Judges must be allowed considerable freedom in determining sentences.