AN ACT to amend article nine, chapter fifteen of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, by adding thereto a new section, designated section four, relating to establishing within the governor's committee on crime, delinquency and correction a research component relating to criminal sentencing; and requiring reports.

That article nine, chapter fifteen of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, be amended by adding thereto a new section, designated section four, to read as follows:

ARTICLE 9. GOVERNOR'S COMMITTEE ON CRIME, DELINQUENCY AND CORRECTION.

§15-9-4. Criminal sentencing research.
The governor's committee on crime, delinquency and correction shall conduct comprehensive research on the state's criminal sanctioning process for adult offenders. The purpose of the research is to promote a fuller understanding of this state's criminal justice system, and shall include the review of issues of sentence length imposed, actual sentence length served, parole eligibility, parole revocation, determinate or indeterminate sentences, availability of alternatives to incarceration for certain offenses, and the respective roles that each of these and other criminal sanction issues may plan in the increased demand for prison bed space. The committee shall report to the governor and the Legislature on or before the first day of January, two thousand four, and at its discretion thereafter, the findings of its research