2012 Governor's State of the State speeches: on Crime
Matt Mead:
Wyoming has 4th lowest rate of violent crimes
[A recent] report noted that Wyoming has the fourth lowest rate of violent crimes and the sixth lowest unemployment rate. The report also cited the high percent of our adult population, age 25 years or older, that are high school graduates.
At 92.3 percent, our state ranks first in the nation. Congratulations Wyoming. I am pleased to report the state of the state is strong. We have a citizenry that while small in numbers is big in spirit and accomplishment.
Source: Wyoming 2012 State of the State Address
Feb 13, 2012
Deval Patrick:
Reform mandatory sentencing law: longer time for 3rd felony
We have proposed reforms to both our Habitual Offender law and to our mandatory minimum sentencing laws to make the public safer. In the past ten years, 84 people have been convicted and sentenced under our existing Habitual Offender law for committing
three felonies. I proposed to lengthen the time before a third-time violent felon would become eligible for parole, and will support a mandatory sentence of life without the possibility of parole for anyone whose third felony is murder or a similarly
heinous act of violence. These reforms are not about sweeping up the innocent or the unlucky. They rightly focus on the worst of those who repeatedly prey on our residents. We cannot and will not pursue a strategy that categorically rejects the proper pl
Source: MA 2012 State of the State Address
Jan 23, 2012
Deval Patrick:
Comprehensive reentry program with job training & education
Alongside our reform of the Habitual Offender rules, we must have a comprehensive reentry program. We need more education and job training, and certainly more drug treatment, in prisons and we need mandatory supervision after release.
And we must make non-violent drug offenders eligible for parole sooner. By permitting them to have supervised release after serving half their sentence, we can begin to re-integrate
400 to 500 non-violent offenders in the next year and save millions in prison costs every year.We must be smarter about how we protect public safety. That means targeting the most dangerous and damaging for the strictest sentences,
and better preparing the non-dangerous for eventual release and reintegration. We don't have to choose the one or the other, and emphasizing prison time without successful re-entry has failed.
Source: MA 2012 State of the State Address
Jan 23, 2012
Nikki Haley:
Restore funding for Law Enforcement DNA lab
Our budget strengthened the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division. We have restored funding to our DNA lab, so that SLED can clear the backlogs. We have increased the number of SLED agents, equipment, and their technology budget.
And we've brought Chief Mark Keel home, where he belongs, so that SLED can return, quickly, to its intended mission: Serving the sheriffs and chiefs across South Carolina.
Source: 2012 S.C. State of the State Address
Jan 18, 2012
Chris Christie:
Bail reform package: jail violent offenders before trial
We can only improve our quality of life by keeping the most violent criminals off the streets. So, I ask you to approve my bail reform package, which would mirror the federal system. It would keep offenders with a history of violence who are a danger to
our communities in jail until the time of their trial, instead of releasing them into society to prey on the public.This may require a constitutional amendment but it is reform that is long overdue. Do you know that if a person is arrested with a long
record of violence we cannot detain that person in jail pending trial? We must release that person, regardless of how dangerous they are to potential witnesses against them or innocent members of our society. Let us amend our bail laws to allow judges to
consider the factor of dangerousness to our communities before we release a violent person back on to the street to maim or kill while they await trial. This is just simple common sense.
Source: N.J. 2012 State of the State Address
Jan 17, 2012
Susana Martinez:
Mandatory prison time for child abuse
I have spent my life and career helping those who had no voice, particularly children who had been the victim of senseless cruelty, violence, and abuse. I am asking you to join me in standing up for those who are unable to stand for themselves.
I'm asking you to increase penalties for child abuse. Those who abuse children should face severe penalties and mandatory prison time. We must always put justice for victims first. And we are going to change the law and fight to ensure that no one is
able to murder someone in our state and get off easy--or get away with it completely--by simply running out the clock.
I am confident we can work together to solve other pressing public safety needs--strengthening Megan's Law to ensure sex offenders
cannot live in secret in our neighborhoods, allowing Amber Alerts to be issued when relatives abduct a child and put them in harm's way, and ending the practice of providing driver's licenses to illegal immigrants.
Source: 2012 New Mexico State of the State Address
Jan 17, 2012
Mitch Daniels:
Strengthen laws against horrid practice of human trafficking
We should--no, we must--strengthen our laws against the horrid practice of human trafficking, and we must do it in time for the
Super Bowl, the kind of event at which the exploitation of young women is rampant in the absence of such a tough law.
Source: Indiana 2012 State of the State Address
Jan 10, 2012
Andrew Cuomo:
Prisons are not an economic development program
We eliminated over 3,800 prison beds and 370 juvenile facility beds--because we finally accepted that prisons are not an economic development program. In addition to the closure of Tryon Boys Residential Center in
January 2011, we shut four residential juvenile facilities and downsized another four. We have worked to put a greater emphasis on prevention and on community-based alternatives to incarceration.
Source: 2012 New York State of the State Address
Jan 4, 2012
Andrew Cuomo:
Collect DNA for all crimes, to exonerate the innocent
I propose that we expand our DNA databank. This databank helps establish guilt and innocence; it has provided leads in over 2,700 convictions and--just as important--led to 27 exonerations of the wrongfully accused. Currently, DNA is collected only from
those convicted of less than half the crimes on the books in New York State. Among the exclusions are numerous crimes that are often precursors to violent offenses. As a result, we are missing an important opportunity to prevent needless suffering of
crime victims. We are also failing to use the most powerful tool we have to exonerate the innocent. I will propose a bill requiring the collection of a DNA sample from any person convicted of a felony or Penal Law misdemeanor. DNA can be the key to
exonerating the innocent, convicting the guilty, and protecting all New Yorkers in a fair and cost-effective way. Let's put New York on the cutting edge of criminal justice and become the first state in the nation to collect DNA on all crimes.
Source: 2012 State of the State into New York voting record A2958
Jan 4, 2012
Page last updated: Aug 10, 2019