Judgment Day

This article titled “Rell Seeks To Streamline Persistent Offender Law” appears in the Hartford Courant,
"These thugs need to be removed from the street — and from society — permanently." and discusses Governor Jodi Rell’s proposal to overhaul Connecticut’s persistent felony offender law.

Rell wants to rewrite and strengthen the law in a fashion requested by prosecutors and Democrats after the abduction, rape and killing of a woman in New Britain during a home invasion on March 30.

"There's not much point in having a law that no one uses — especially when the law is intended to protect the public from the worst of the worst," Rell said Monday. "My proposal eliminates the current distinctions between 'persistent offender,' 'persistent serious offender' and 'persistent dangerous offender.'"

"Make no mistake: we will not simply stand by while unrepentant and incorrigible predators kill people," Rell, a Republican, said. "These thugs need to be removed from the street — and from society — permanently."

Aside from the general agreement on fixing a tough-to-administer law, Republicans have vowed that they will continue to push for a vote on the highly controversial "three strikes" proposal in the legislature's final weeks. The proposal would send criminals to prison for life if they are convicted of three violent felonies.

Here are the details of the plan:

• The plan seeks 14 new prosecutors earning about $67,000 each
• Eight inspectors to work with prosecutors at about $63,000 each
• A computer manager at $110,000, among others. The state's criminal justice division is also seeking cars and mobile radios for the inspectors, plus new office space for the "cold case" unit.
• 15 new probation officers to improve supervision of sex offenders without permanent residences, prepare additional pre-sentence investigations and expedite the evaluation and assessment of offenders prior to their release
• 3 new parole officers to assist with better screening of parole candidates
• 3 new social workers for public defenders to help direct less-serious offenders to diversionary programs
• 2 additional public defenders to handle increased prosecutions
• The state's criminal justice division is also seeking cars and mobile radios for the inspectors, plus new office space for the "cold case" unit.

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