Moreover, when first-time violent felony parolees commit additional offenses, public confidence in our criminal justice system is impaired. Under the bill, first-time violent felons, like repeat violent felons, will be required to serve determinate sentences of incarceration without discretionary release. The length of incarceration will not be determined by the Parole Board, and such offenders will no longer be eligible for release after serving only one-half of their maximum sentence. Rather, violent felons will be required to serve not less than six-sevenths of the sentence imposed. Similarly, requiring such determinate sentences for violent felony offenders enables victims of violent crime, families and friends of those who are harmed and the larger community to know far more precisely the penalty imposed on a violent criminal.
Specified penalties provide a more accurate assessment of the balance between crimes and sanctions.
Defined, visible and truthful sanctions have a greater capacity to deter future crime. The extension of determinate sentencing to first-time violent felony offenders is the logical sequel to the 1995 imposition of determinate sentences on second violent felony offenders. When an offender is returned to the community the State must provide for the welfare of that community and maintain its quality of life. To maximize public safety, the criminal justice system must do more than lengthen periods of incarceration for violent felony offenders, impose determinate sentences on them and require that they remain incarcerated for at least six-sevenths of their sentences. After all, virtually all of these offenders will eventually return to the community.