A House committee on Thursday approved a bill that would impose harsher sentences for some people convicted of murder that lawmakers call "the worst of the worst." The bill, approved by the House Judiciary Committee, would ensure that adult defendants convicted of first-degree murder or multiple violent crimes stay in prison until they die. It now goes to the House Rules committee for consideration. If approved, the bill would move on to the full House. Currently, defendants convicted of first-degree murder can be sentenced to "life" or "natural life." Those sentenced to life can become eligible for parole after 25 years.
The bill's sponsor, Rep. Eddie Farnsworth, said parole hearings cause victims' families to relive the loss of a loved one, and the public deserves to know that exactly how long those convicted of violent crimes will be off the streets. "These aren't mistakes. This is premeditated murder," the Gilbert Republican said. "This is not somebody who accidently ran into another car and somebody died."
The harsher penalties would apply to defendants sentenced for a first-degree murder who were over 18 at the time of the crime or have a prior record of multiple violent felonies. The bill also includes tougher sentencing for those committing other crimes at the time of a murder, minors convicted of first-degree murder, and people convicted of second degree murder.
Rep. Cecil Ash, R-Mesa, voted against the bill, saying he feels that many of those convicted are young men who, mentally and emotionally, are not completely mature. Ash has advocated for the state to reduce sentences for lesser crimes. A person convicted at 18 or 25 may be fully rehabilitated by the time they're 50 or 60, he said, but they continue to take up bed space and taxpayer money in jail. "We are incarcerating men in some cases that could live a productive life," he said.
Rep. Ted Vogt, R-Tucson, said that even if a prisoner changes later, it doesn't erase their crime and the pain they caused. The bill deals with those convicted of deliberately murdering someone, criminals that Vogt called "the worst of the worst." "They thought about it, they went out and they took a life on purpose," he said.
Read more:
http://www.azcentral.com/community/ahwatukee/articles/2012/02/02/20120202arizona-bill-would-toughen-sentences-murders.html#ixzz1lRCS6IE8
Now read the reasons why murderers make good prisoners ~~
Why murderers sometimes make model inmates
By Joaquin Palomino
When you look at the numbers, many long held truths about crime crumble. Like this one: who do you think is more likely to become a life-long criminal: a rapist or a car thief? It turns out those who commit the most serious crimes actually re-offend at lower rates. Murderers have the lowest recidivism rate out of any California prisoner. Why is that? Over the next couple days, we’ll spend time talking about a population called “Lifers.” They’re inmates, usually convicted of murder, who’ve been sentenced to life with the possibility of parole. In the first part, KALW’s Joaquin Palomino explores why lifers are so different than other inmates.
Most California prisoners have a determinate sentence, meaning they serve a fixed amount of time. So if sentenced to two years, a criminal spends two years in prison. Time can be shaved off for good behavior, but the idea is, once their term is up they’re free to go home. “The basic logic of determinate sentencing is, do the crime, do the time,” says Barry Krisberg, the research and policy director of the Earl Warren Institute at UC Berkeley. “There’s no role for rehabilitation under determinate sentencing.” Bolar says determinate sentencing turns prisons into warehouses. “There’s no therapeutics, no education, no nothing. [Inmates] just walk in circles, do flips on a bar like a monkey, run around like a wild dog, and then when it is time to go home they go home,” he says. Lifers, on the other hand, have an indeterminate sentence. Meaning they have to convince members of a 12-person parole board to let them out of prison.
Read more at:
http://informant.kalwnews.org/2012/02/imprisoned-for-life-part-i/
Will keep you posted on the follow up articles by Joaquin Palamino in California and his stories on "lifers"
The death of Anthony Lester in the Tucson unit Manzanita, is the result of a culture that is de-sensitized and apathetic towards the wellfare of the prisoners and the preservation of life while in the custody of the Agency ~~ working in the background with Investigative reporter Wendy Halloran and Tony's aunt Patti Jones from the beginning to the end of this critical incident ~~ 
