Now, moving on to politics and to the 2024 Kentucky General Assembly.

A sweeping 72 page anti-crime bill is advancing in the state legislature after an overwhelming committee endorsement last night.

House Bill five is known as the SAFER Kentucky Act and addresses a raft of criminal justice issues.

It contains a new three strikes law that would mean life without parole for anyone convicted of a third violent felony.

It would also create a stand alone carjacking law increases penalties for several crimes and limits bail payments by charitable organizations to less than $5,000.

And last night's committee meeting, folks on both sides of the argument had their say.

Kentucky auditions.

June Lefler reports on the bill that also could apply the death penalty for those convicted of murdering a police officer or first responder.

This story begins tonight's legislative update.

Families who lost their daughter, son and husband spoke in favor of House Bill five Thursday evening.

Rachel Conley's husband, a Scott County deputy sheriff, was shot and killed after pulling someone over.

The people who murder our first responders have no idea of the consequences of their actions.

And I'm not talking about their court dates or their trial or their sentencing.

I'm talking about the families we the families of the fallen first responders.

We are the ones who suffer the consequences of these crimes.

House Bill five would hold offenders behind bars for longer, and victims say that could keep offenders from perpetrating more violence on other families.

If people know that if they murder a first responder, they will go to prison for the rest of their lives or they will receive a sentence of death.

Maybe then they will stop killing our first responders.

Law enforcement and prosecutors say this approach will help them on the job.

Prosecutors believe in second chances.

We believe in redemption, but we cannot have our hands tied and we cannot focus more on the rehabilitation of an offender than we can innocent of life and innocent community.

Public defenders do not support this bill.

And some House Judiciary lawmakers say the current penal code is doing its job.

One of the few Republican critics chimed in.

I really would like to work with you on some of these provisions.

I don't know how the three strikes law is going to affect, for example, our persistent felon laws, which we already have on the books.

I don't know how it's different from that.

I think it doubles down the three strikes, doubles down on on existing serious crimes that we already have serious penalties for.

And it takes away judicial discretion.

All committee members in the minority party voted down the bill, in part asking if these policies will actually prevent and reduce violence.

No time in the state of Kentucky or in our nation have we been able to incarcerate ourselves out of any issue ever to politically oppose policy groups in Kentucky, say, according to the research.

Longer sentences don't keep us safer, and they don't deter people from committing violent crime.

In fact, the general public is pretty much unaware of sentencing details.

And there's less of a an effect when a long sentence becomes even longer.

We also know that people tend to age out of criminal behavior.

So we'd be paying to keep folks locked up long after they posed any threat to our communities.

According to a recent study by the National Institute of Justice, they found that long sentences do little to deter individuals from committing crime.

Instead, those serving time without the possibility of parole often present greater risk to the corrections staff as they have no incentive to rehabilitate themselves.

Still, keeping offenders locked up means they can't go out and commit more crimes.

And Bill, sponsors say that's the justice victims deserve.

I can give you 100 people who've committed their fourth violent offense.

It would have stopped that.

You know, another piece of data.

Jake Luxembourg.

It would be a laugh today had we done our job.

That's not tit for tat.

That's one it's an anecdote, but that's data.

House Bill five passed out of committee in a 13 to 5 vote and now goes to the full House for consideration.

Opponents also questioned the impacts of limiting bail funds, banning folks from sleeping outdoors or in their cars, and increasing fentanyl charges.

For Kentucky Edition, I'm June Leffler.