Rep. Creekmore’s crime bills draw criticism
Kelly MacNeil (2009-03-16)

(UALR Public Radio) – If you only judged Representative Dawn Creekmore by the placid expression always on her face, you wouldn’t guess that she’s charging harder than any other state lawmaker on the crime front.
Creekmore
 
Here’s just a handful of the measures that Creekmore is running this year:
- A bill to strengthen the punishment for violating a restraining order twice
- A bill to eliminate the statute of limitations on rape when DNA evidence becomes available
- Another bill to let police collect a DNA sample from a person who is charged – not convicted – in certain violent crimes.
Creekmore says she got together with victims advocates, prosecutors, and law enforcement,
Creekmore
Creekmore says the problem of domestic violence, especially, is eating away at many Arkansas families.
Creekmore
But not everyone thinks the crackdown is such a good idea. Criminal Defense attorney Jeff Rosenzweig has spoken against almost all of Creekmore’s bills in committee.
Rosenzweig
Jeff Rosenzweig says Creekmore’s bills tend to go too far, even at times stepping on a defendant’s constitutional rights. He says these bills are part of a long trend to address crime simply by making punishment more severe. There’s danger, he says, when a simple anecdote can shape legislation.
Rosenzweig
Representative Steve Harrelson chairs the House Judiciary committee where many of Creekmore’s bills have been heard. He thinks Creekmore’s measures are part of a nationwide push to get tougher on sexual offenders, and domestic abuse.
Harrelson
Harrelson, who’s also a lawyer in Texarkana, says Creekmore’s aims are good, but lawmakers have to consider the costs. Each of Creekmore’s bills puts only a few more people in prison every year. But with prisons overflowing, every offense counts. There’s the cost of litigation too – Harrleson says lawmakers have to take the constitutional arguments seriously.
Harrelson
In Creekmore’s office, she displays a placard in Latin. It translates, she says, to “Don’t Let Negative People Get You Down.”
Creekmore
Creekmore says the constitutional concerns are overblown. And someone may work on rehabilitating criminals instead of imprisoning them, but it’s not her.
Creekmore
Almost half of Creekmore’s crime bills are now signed into law. Others are now in the Senate Judiciary committee. There, concerns similar Jeff Rosenzweig’s are actually tempering the language of the bills. For FM 89 News, I’m KM.
© Copyright 2009, UALR Public Radio

Related Articles

Comments are closed.