The Legislature seems determined to use a disturbing, high-profile case to make bad public policy. The case of 11-year-old Carlie Brucia, whose tragic slaying by a man who was on the streets despite having violated his probation, has led to loud calls for a change in how probationers are treated. The danger is that in the push to respond to Carlie's abduction and murder, irresponsible lawmaking will result.
One of the more troubling proposals is a bill drafted and unanimously approved by the House Judiciary Committee (HB 1801) that would impose a five-year mandatory minimum prison sentence on certain probationers who violate the terms of their probation.
The bill is narrowed somewhat, in that it would apply only to people who have been convicted of a forcible felony, such as murder, sexual battery, aggravated assault, or carjacking, and there would be an exception for any probationer who has fallen behind on court-ordered payments. But the measure could impact tens of thousands of ex-convicts who would be returned to prison for missing an appointment with their probation officer or failing a drug test. Under the bill, the only way a five-year prison sentence could be avoided is if a judge determines in writing that the probationer is no danger to the community. It isn't likely that many of Florida's elected state court judges would be willing to stick their necks out this way.
To get a sense of how many additional inmates this may add to the state's prisons, the Department of Corrections recently drug tested 62 percent of probationers - conducting 95,000 tests - and 29,000 came back positive. As of the beginning of the year there were 150,000 people on probation and of those, 56,000 were under investigation for probation violations. Of course, not all of these probationers have forcible felonies in their background - the state doesn't have those numbers available - but many of them probably do.
Whether to return a probationer to prison for a violation and for how long is a judgment based on individual facts and circumstances - which is how a criminal justice system should operate. The mandatory minimums under consideration in the Legislature would strip judges of this discretion and dispense one-size-fits-all justice.
A similar bill has been introduced in the Senate by Sen. Alex Villalobos, R-Miami. In Villalobos' version (SB 2284), probationers with a forcible felony in their background would be returned to prison for a minimum of five years if they commit another offense - not just a probation violation. But the new crime can be anything, including minor misdemeanor offenses.
There doesn't seem to be much political will in the Legislature to address the practical and policy problems with these bills. Carlie's murder has created a momentum to pass something to punish probationers, even if that means clogging our courts and prisons with people who have already served their sentences and diminishing the independence of the state's judiciary.
