By JAMI MITCHELL and KATHY OLDHAM
jami@du2.byu.edu
A 1994 federal law intended to get tough on crime may actually be lowering the amount of time a prisoner spends behind bars.
The law requires violent offenders, or those who have been convicted of murder, rape, robbery or aggravated assault, to serve at least 85 percent of their sentence.
Most prisoners on average serve less than 50 percent of their assigned sentence length because they are often let out early due to good behavior, overcrowding or various other reasons.
Ed McConkie, director of the Utah Sentencing Commission, said he worries the law might actually lower the amount of time served in prison.
'My concern is it doesn't necessarily mean a longer length of stay. If a state wants to comply, one way to do it is just to have the judge declare a shorter sentence,' McConkie said.
The law is not concerned with how long an inmate is in prison but with whether or not they serve the full length of their sentence, McConkie said.
However, Judge Lynn W. Davis of Utah Fourth District Court said he believes serving 85 percent of a sentence should be mandatory. Davis said the law has not affected the way he sentences.
Another problem critics have with the law is that it could potentially worsen the overcrowding problems in prisons. Jack Ford, director of Public Information for Utah Corrections, said the prison system is already increasing by about 500 prisoners a year.
However, Clifford Butter, Research Consultant for Utah Corrections, said by complying with the law, the state is able to build a $13 million, 288-bed facility in Gunnison, Sanpete County, to alleviate prison overcrowding.
Partial funding for this structure came from the federal government. Since 1996, the state of Utah has been receiving about $3.5 million per year in federal grants for complying with the law.
The U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics reported that violent offenders are spending more time behind bars as a result of this law. Many other states have been forced to change their sentencing structure in order to receive federal funding.
By the end of 1998, 27 states and the District of Columbia required violent offenders to serve at least 85 percent of their prison sentences, increasing from only 5 states in 1993. This has cost these states large sums of money, McConkie said.
However, McConkie said he does not believe the law has affected the state of Utah because Utah did not need to restructure the way it sentences prisoners in order to qualify for the incentive grants.
The state has instead only shown proof of its compliance, McConkie said.
'(Utah) has always had high lengths of stays. We didn't really make any changes because we were already there,' McConkie said.