Bill > S1786

Introduced Session

An act relating to parole for long-term prisoners; creating s. 947.161, F.S.; providing that certain long-term prison sentences are parole-eligible under certain circumstances; providing for retroactive application; providing eligibility requirements; providing conditions of parole for such persons; providing for disposition of savings produced by such a program of parole; providing an effective date. WHEREAS, parole works, according to a report by the Florida Commission on Offender Review which states that “97.5 percent of parolees have successfully completed their parole supervision without revocation within the first 3 years of release,” and WHEREAS, long-term incarceration disproportionately impacts poor communities and communities of color, and WHEREAS, the costs of long-term incarceration are social, cultural, and economic and cause additional harm to society over and above the costs of the crime committed, and WHEREAS, the annual financial cost to incarcerate an individual in this state averages over $28,000 per inmate per year, and WHEREAS, a 25-year study found that people who commit violent crimes may actually be less likely to commit another serious offense, and WHEREAS, recidivism rates decline dramatically as people age. For example, of persons convicted of violent crimes, only 4 percent who are released between ages 45 and 54 reoffend, and that number drops even further to 1 percent at age 55 and above, and among people previously convicted of murder, those rates fall to 1.5 percent and 0.4 percent, respectively, and WHEREAS, in Philadelphia, 174 people were resentenced and released after having been sentenced to life without parole for homicides committed as children, and after they had been in the community for an average of 21 months, only 2 persons (1.1 percent) had been reconvicted of any offense, and WHEREAS, in Maryland, 188 people serving life without parole, mostly for murder or rape, were released after serving 30 or more years after a court ruled that jury instructions in their cases had been unconstitutional, and 6 years later, only 5 persons (2.7 percent) had returned to prison either for violating parole or for committing a new crime, and WHEREAS, it is the intent of the Legislature to advance public safety through punishment, rehabilitation, and restorative practices, and when a sentence includes incarceration, these purposes are best served by terms that are proportionate to the seriousness of the offense and provide uniformity with the sentences of offenders committing the same offense under similar circumstances, and WHEREAS, by providing a means to reevaluate a sentence after a certain period of time has passed, the Legislature intends to provide the tools to ensure these purposes are achieved when it is determined that the original sentence no longer advances the interests of justice and the offender is no longer a public safety risk, NOW, THEREFORE,

AI Summary

Carlos Smith (D)*, 

Died in Criminal Justice (on 06/16/2025)

Official Document