Legislature has chance to free society from worst of the worst

Talk to any police officer in a high-crime community, and you’ll hear this impassioned plea to the courts: Please put repeat violent offenders away for a long time.

We’ve heard that comment from law enforcement over and over in the city of Youngstown, which at one time had the distinction of having the highest per capita homicide rate in the country. It is telling that many of the killers were known to the Youngstown Police Department and other agencies because of their criminal histories.

So, when Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine says, “There is always room, I believe, behind bars for those who have demonstrated they’re violent and whose presence in society continues to threaten the safety of our children and our families,” we say, let this be the year that the Ohio General Assembly passes a law aimed at taking the worst of the worst off the streets.

Two years ago, we had high hopes that repeat violent offenders were going to feel the impact of a law with sharp teeth. The measure set an 11-year mandatory additional prison sentence for violent career criminals who commit a felony while carrying a gun, and would have doubled the prison time for a gun-specification conviction, according to the Columbus Dispatch. The legislation also would have gone back 15 years to define a violent career criminal, the Dispatch reported.

But, concerns were raised about the effects the law on the exploding prison population in Ohio and whether it was fair in the way it defined a repeat violent offender.

Now, a revised bill is before the General Assembly, and with the changes made, there is every expectation that it will become law.

We certainly hope so, given the region’s first-hand experience with criminals with lengthy records.

The Dispatch reports that an Ohio State University researcher has conducted a study showing that people with two or more violent felony offenses make up about 1 percent of the state prison population but are responsible for 57 percent of violent felony convictions.

“We do not need those people on the street,” said Sen. Jim Hughes, R-Columbus, sponsor of Senate Bill 97. Hughes also sponsored the 2013 measure.

Confident of passage

But, with the changes that have been made, he is confident of passage.

Under the new bill, a person would be defined as a “violent career criminal” if he or she commits two or more violent felony offenses within eight years, not counting time served in prison, the Dispatch reports.

If someone falling under that definition is found guilty of committing another violent felony with a firearm, the bill would tack on two to 11 years of prison time to whatever is imposed for the original charges.

It also increases the prison term by 50 percent for a second-time gun-specification charge — essentially using a gun while committing a crime. Those prison terms currently range from one to seven years, depending on the circumstance.

The bill would prohibit a career violent criminal from possessing any gun; doing so would subject the person to a first-degree felony charge.

Communities like Youngstown, which have been held hostage by career criminals, need all the help they can get from the state.