2011 Governor's State of the State speeches: on Crime
Tom Corbett:
Cancel unneeded expensive prison project in Fayette County
This budget maintains our full complement of state police. Crime often costs us long after justice is done. In 1993 Pennsylvania had 24,000 men and women in its prisons. Today that number is over 50,000. This number speaks to a failure.
Sometimes it's a failure in our schools, or in our society, but ultimately in the personal character of the criminal. We need to fund additional parole officers to help freed inmates make the transition from the prison yard to Main Street.
Source: 2011 State of the State speech to Pennsylvania legislature
Mar 8, 2011
Tom Corbett:
Cancel unneeded expensive prison project in Fayette County
This budget maintains our full complement of state police. Crime often costs us long after justice is done. In 1993 Pennsylvania had 24,000 men and women in its prisons. Today that number is over 50,000. This number speaks to a failure.
Sometimes it's a failure in our schools, or in our society, but ultimately in the personal character of the criminal. We need to fund additional parole officers to help freed inmates make the transition from the prison yard to Main Street.
We need to think smarter about how and when and how long to jail people. We need to be tough on crime but we also need to consider the fiscal implications of our prison system. Last month my administration cancelled a prison project in Fayette
County because we don't need it and we can't afford it. We also can't afford to ask counties in our state to subsist on a prison-based economy. We need industries that generate wealth, not sorrow.
Source: 2011 State of the State speech to Pennsylvania legislature
Mar 8, 2011
Rick Perry:
Life without parole for certain repeat sex offenders
The pursuit of true stability and security also requires us to maintain law and order and keep our citizens safe. Last fall, I proposed legislation targeting sex offenders, to better protect our citizens.
We should empower prosecutors to seek life without parole for certain repeat sex offenders, and requiring active GPS monitoring of high risk offenders for three years after they've done their time and been released by TDCJ.
Source: 2011 Texas State of the State Address
Feb 8, 2011
Peter Shumlin:
Help keep non-violent offenders out of jail.
A decade ago we spent $71 million on our corrections system. Today, we spend almost $131 million. On any given day, of the 2,100 prisoners that taxpayers are currently supporting, 180 are in prison because they have no other place to go. 69% of our femal
inmates and 45% of our male inmates are non-violent offenders. What do we know about these non-violent offenders? Many of them have difficulty reading and writing, and most have drug and alcohol related addictions. When their time is up, a lack of adult
basic education, drug and alcohol counseling, mental health services and job options leave them on our Main Streets with the same lack of skills and substance abuse challenges that led them into prison in the first place. As a result, half of our
non-violent offenders end up back in prison within three years.I ask the Legislature to join me in investing $1 million in prevention and alternative justice in community based programs across Vermont to help keep non-violent offenders out of jail.
Source: 2011 Vermont State of the State Address
Jan 25, 2011
Jay Nixon:
More DWI arrests save more lives
Last year, we passed historic DWI legislation with strong bipartisan support. That new law is making our highways safer for everyone. With us tonight is Highway Patrol Sergeant Blaine Adams from Poplar Bluff--who has made an amazing 1,060
DWI arrests--more than any other current member of the patrol. 1,060 DWI arrests. Can you imagine how many lives this one Trooper has saved? Please stand and accept the gratitude of your state.
Source: 2011 Missouri State of the State Address
Jan 19, 2011
Nikki Haley:
Save millions by reducing recidivism
[Let's focus on] reforming our adult corrections system and pulling us out of that deficit. [The SC prison director has done] a tremendous job running our prisons at the lowest cost per prisoner in the nation.
My challenge will be to lower the number of inmates that come back into the system. The cost savings to the taxpayers of this state would be substantial. The immediate savings would be approximately $6 million in administrative costs alone.
But the real dollars will come on the back end, with the reduction of our recidivism rate.The state of South Carolina pays more than $16,000 annually to incarcerate a single prisoner. We spend more each year on a prisoner than we do on a student.
Think of the savings we'll realize if we aren't constantly welcoming back behind bars those prisoners who finish out their initial terms. And think of the cultural impact. It's immeasurable.
Source: 2011 South Carolina State of the State Address
Jan 19, 2011
Sean Parnell:
More enforcement presence via Village Public Safety Officers
Working together, we made Alaska's families safer. Because of the work we've done together, there are 15 more Village Public Safety Officers in communities that had no law enforcement presence. In fact, we went from having 47 filled VPSO positions in
2008 to 86 filled positions now. That means thousands more Alaskans can call for help when they're in danger, and get a timely response. Because of the work we've done together, more Alaskans have access to counseling and suicide prevention services,
and more domestic violence survivors were sheltered and, at last, able to escape their abusers. And, because of the work we've done together, we launched the "Alaskans Choose Respect" initiative. Eighteen communities held "Choose Respect" rallies and
marches to courageously confront the evil of domestic violence and sexual assault. We gave more Alaskans permission to speak up and take action against this epidemic.
Source: 2011 Alaska State of the State Address
Jan 19, 2011
Bob McDonnell:
Tough statutes and sentences; but also re-entry programs
Public safety is the silent partner in job creation. Jobs won't be created and businesses won't be started if our citizens don't first feel safe and secure. I believe in, and we have, tough statutes and sentences for those who break our laws and
endanger our citizens and communities. As a result, our crime rates are down. However, our recidivism rate is still too high. Reduction in recidivism means fewer victims, and less prison costs. America is a nation of second chances and those leaving
prison should have the opportunity to change.
We are implementing sweeping new prisoner re-entry programs throughout our correctional system through the leadership of our first statewide prisoner re-entry coordinator and our new Director of the
Department of Corrections. And I am pleased to say that since taking office we have implemented the fastest and fairest system for the restoration of civil rights in modern Virginia history.
Source: 2011 Virginia State of the State Address
Jan 12, 2011
Haley Barbour:
$7.3M for state trooper school
To keep law enforcement where we want it, I'm announcing tonight that I will dedicate $7.3 million of the governor's discretionary funds to hold a troopers' school this calendar year. If you will join me in moving motor carrier enforcement from
MDOT to the Department of Public Safety, freeing up 40 current highway patrolmen, that would mean nearly 100 more state troopers on the road.
Source: 2011 Mississippi State of the State Address
Jan 11, 2011
Mike Beebe:
Let non-violent offenders repay debt to society productively
We warehouse too many people in our prisons, and at our current rate of incarceration, we will need a projected additional $1.1 billion just to supply enough beds for the next decade. The choice will be whether to raise taxes to pay for those beds, or
release potentially dangerous criminals because we have nowhere else to hold them.Conversations about our corrections system are too often dominated by fear and anxiety. Many discussions end in new laws with harsher sentences and longer prison terms.
To say that the only solution is to take no chances, to lock up non-violent offenders for longer and longer periods of time whatever the cost; to do this is to give up on trying to reform our corrections system and our society.
We must appropriately
punish lawbreakers, but, in some instances, non-violent offenders can repay that debt to society while remaining productive for their families and their communities. If they don't correct their ways, incarceration will always be an option.
Source: 2011 Arkansas State of the State Address
Jan 11, 2011
Mitch Daniels:
Incarcerate in a smarter way, based on danger to society
One opportunity lies in reform of our criminal justice system. A bipartisan task force of police, judges, prosecutors, and others fashioned a package of changes to see that lawbreakers are incarcerated in a smarter way, one that matches their place of
punishment to their true danger to society. We can be tougher on the worst offenders, and protect Hoosiers more securely, while saving a billion dollars the next few years. Let's seize this opportunity, without waiting.
Source: 2011 Ind. State of the State Address
Jan 11, 2011
Butch Otter:
Improve offender assessment to reduce inmate population
Let's talk for a minute about some of what our State government is doing to avoid wasting the people's labors. At the Department of Correction, the Parole
Commission has improved offender assessment and placement and are making better use of retained-jurisdiction programs. That's saving $32 million and holding our inmate population more than 1,500 below projections.
Source: Idaho 2011 State of the State and Budget Address
Jan 10, 2011
Andrew Cuomo:
Incarcerating juveniles increases likelihood of offending
Our infrastructure is stuck in 20th century ideas while our practice has moved into the 21st. Recognizing that incarcerating low to medium risk juveniles actually increases the likelihood of future offending, we have turned to newer and more effective
methods that will reduce the rate of adult reoffending.My Administration will commit to reforming the system--making sure that our troubled youth populations are best served with meaningful programming, so that they may go on to live productive lives.
Source: 2011 State of the State speech to New York legislature
Jan 5, 2011
Jack Dalrymple:
More highway patrol; more emergency communications system
I have recommended that we fund three additional highway patrol officers, that we build and equip a new addition to the Highway Patrol Academy, and that we expand the communications capabilities of state radio, the key to our state's emergency response
system. An investment in six communications towers will also improve the public's cell phone service in poor coverage areas. It's our responsibility to the dedicated men and women who are sworn to protect us have the tools they need to do the job.
Source: 2011 State of the State speech to North Dakota legislature
Jan 4, 2011
Page last updated: Dec 04, 2018