FISCAL NOTE



FUND(S):



Sources of Revenue:

General Fund

Legislation creates:

A New Fund



Fiscal Note Summary


Effect this measure will have on costs and revenues of state government.


There are relatively few offenders incarcerated for this crime as their most serious offense (18 as of June 30, 2010). There is no question there would be a large financial impact if this legislation becomes law, however certain technical aspects make that estimation hard to develop. Currently, this offense is punishable by a not less than 3 nor more than 15 years, which would typically result in an offender becoming parole eligible after 3 years and discharging his sentence entirely after 7.5 years with good time. Changing the minimum time to serve to 15 years would serve to change the sentence to a determinate structure and the offender would still discharge in 7.5 years. This is a base increase of at approximately 3 years which could be estimated at an additional cost of $72,798 per offender sentenced ($24,266 was the average cost per inmate in FY 2010). However, the larger impact would come from the lack of a upper limit to the sentence range. As proposed the language would allow a judge to theoretically pick any number of years to sentence an offender as long as it was at least 15. In other words offenders could be sentenced to terms of 50 or 100 years or more. If even one offender is sentenced in such a manner it would have massive fiscal implications in the years to come.



Fiscal Note Detail


Effect of Proposal Fiscal Year
2011
Increase/Decrease
(use"-")
2012
Increase/Decrease
(use"-")
Fiscal Year
(Upon Full
Implementation)
1. Estmated Total Cost 0 0 0
Personal Services 0 0 0
Current Expenses 0 0 0
Repairs and Alterations 0 0 0
Assets 0 0 0
Other 0 0 0
2. Estimated Total Revenues 0 0 0


Explanation of above estimates (including long-range effect):






Memorandum


There are relatively few offenders incarcerated for this crime as their most serious offense (18 as of June 30, 2010). There is no question there would be a large financial impact if this legislation becomes law, however certain technical aspects make that estimation hard to develop. Currently, this offense is punishable by a not less than 3 nor more than 15 years, which would typically result in an offender becoming parole eligible after 3 years and discharging his sentence entirely after 7.5 years with good time. Changing the minimum time to serve to 15 years would serve to change the sentence to a determinate structure and the offender would still discharge in 7.5 years. This is a base increase of at approximately 3 years which could be estimated at an additional cost of $72,798 per offender sentenced ($24,266 was the average cost per inmate in FY 2010). However, the larger impact would come from the lack of a upper limit to the sentence range. As proposed the language would allow a judge to theoretically pick any number of years to sentence an offender as long as it was at least 15. In other words offenders could be sentenced to terms of 50 or 100 years or more. If even one offender is sentenced in such a manner it would have massive fiscal implications in the years to come.



    Person submitting Fiscal Note: Loita Butcher
    Email Address: loita.c.butcher@wv.gov