LAST YEAR the General Assembly passed, and the governor signed into law, a bill that lets some inmates out earlier still by transferring them to local house-arrest or other community programs to ease the transition from prison. McIntosh opposes such early releases. He said the most serious violent felons in Indiana typically serve only 43 percent of their sentence. At a time when other states are enacting tougher sentencing laws, Indiana is going in the wrong direction. The governor is advocating life sentences without the possibility of parole for repeat child molesters and other child predators.
Some experts suggest that there is no cure for some child molesters.
We should and can stop that access. If a child predator has been convicted of a prior serious felony against a child under 16, that offender should be permanently removed from society. As governor, O'Bannon has signed a repeat sexual predator statute, which authorizes an additional prison term of 10 years for those who commit such a crime and have a prior sexual predator conviction. O'Bannon also said criminal penalties should be increased for those convicted of methamphetamine offenses. The crimes of possessing and dealing the drug are currently classified as a less serious crime than possessing or dealing cocaine, even though O'Bannon believes the public threat is just as great.