Uncertainty prevails as transition to Indiana's new criminal code approaches

“People are still trying to absorb the change,” said Larry Landis, executive director of the Indiana Public Defender Council. “People are just sort of overwhelmed. The truth is, nobody knows how it will work.”

The new criminal code increases the classification of felonies from the four classes identified by letters to six levels identified by numbers. Murder will remain a class by itself and still punishable by a 45 to 65 year sentence.

In addition, convicts will have to serve 75 percent of their sentences instead of the current 50 percent, generally increasing the amount of time many offenders will serve.

A large part of that uncertainty, said Vanderburgh County Prosecutor Nicholas Hermann, is just knowing what to tell the deputy prosecutors in his office about how it will work.

Because the new statute is still open to “technical corrections” in the Indiana General Assembly on June 17, codebooks will not be ready when the new code takes effect.

The two versions of the criminal code will exist side-by-side for a year or two as cases that began before July 1 work through the justice system.

“Everyone expects that the legislature will be revisiting it for the next few sessions,” Hermann said. “It’s hard to know how it is going to work until we put it into practice. There are going to be growing pains with this.”

The version set to take effect next month is actually a series of updates to sentencing reforms passed in 2013.

In concept, Hermann said, the changes are designed to punish offenders more severely for the more severe crimes while reducing sentences for many other crimes.

While the bulk of felony penalties have stayed roughly the same, there has been a general lowering of penalties for drug offenses.

More than 30 percent of offenders in state prisons were there for drug offenses as of Jan. 1, said Douglas Garrison, Indiana Department of Correction spokesman.

New sentencing guidelines for drug offenses could change that. The penalty for a first-time conviction of marijuana possession less than 30 grams will drop to a Class B misdemeanor. Marijuana possession less than 30 grams with a prior conviction will no longer be a felony but drops to an A misdemeanor.

A person will have to have a prior conviction and possession of more than 30 grams marijuana for it to become a Level 6 felony, equivalent to the current Class D.

The changes are intended to give judges more discretion in sentencing and reduce repeat offenders by making it easier to sentence low-level offenders to local community correction programs instead of state prisons.

“No prosecutor likes prosecuting somebody for the third or fourth time,” said David Powell, executive director of the Indiana Prosecuting Attorneys Council. “Hopefully, with treatment (for drug offenders) it will slow that down.”

But providing that treatment will require follow-through from the legislature in order to help local governments fund community correction programs, he said.

Other changes in the new criminal code also could contribute to an increased burden on communities. Landis noted that the new code dictates that offenders sentenced to six months must serve that time in jail and not the Department of Corrections. That expands up to one-year sentences starting July 2015.

“What are we going to do with them if they just keep them in county jails instead of community corrections or treatment programs? That’s just not a solution,” Landis said.

The shift to lower penalties for drug offenses and property crimes and higher penalties for violent crimes could unintentionally have another effect, especially in light of the increased percentage of time served that will be required, Landis said.

“It could be more difficult trying to persuade clients to take plea deals. There probably will be more jury trials,” Landis said.