Breaking down the changes the Safer Kentucky Act will make
he Safer Kentucky Act will change the state’s criminal landscape. Critics of the law are concerned that it could negatively impact people with fewer resources.
“I think that there are explicit statutes now that are going to disproportionately affect indigent people rather than people that have means,” said Lexington attorney Abe Mashni. “A couple of those are the charitable bail bond organizations and the banning of those organizations to help people post bond in certain such situations as well as they can’t post the bond over $5,000, which eliminates a lot of people.”
Criminal mischief is a felony. However, under House Bill 5, if the defendant pays restitution before trial, it drops to a misdemeanor.
“So for people without means, obviously, they’re going to be penalized for people that have the means,” said Mashni.
Many advocates for the unhoused community argue the law criminalizes homelessness, as it bans people from camping or sleeping in public areas. The penalty is a violation for the first offense and a Class B misdemeanor for the second.
“If people really look at what they’re saying, children are they’re not exempt from the bill. In other words, children can be charged and put in juvenile detention simply because they don’t have a place to sleep at night,” said the director of the Catholic Action Center, Ginny Ramsey.
As Monday approaches, Ramsey says many in Lexington’s unhoused community are scared.
“Just the law being passed. says a lot. It says to them that they don’t count. It says that they’re being judged not by their character, but by their pocketbook and their lack there of of resources,” said Ramsey.
“It makes gross differences between indigent people and non-indigent people. Because now it’s explicitly in the statutes that if you have means, you can get better results. You can get out of jail. You can get that felony down to a misdemeanor,” said Mashni.
Mashni says we’ll have to wait and see if this stands, assuming there will be some litigation on the constitutionality of these parts of the bill. He says the law will also have a large impact on people who are already in the criminal justice system. House Bill 5 expands the terms “violent offender” and “violent felony.”
“That has huge impacts on when an individual is eligible to be released, whether they’re eligible for parole, or when they’re eligible for parole and what percentage of the sentence they have to serve before that, whether they’re eligible at sentencing for probation,” said Mashni.
So, what does this mean for people already in the system? Mashni says we’ll have to wait and see.
“Let’s say they haven’t pled guilty yet, or they’re still on pretrial release, and they’re found guilty after Monday. Will the old laws apply, which might mean that they’re eligible for probation and have lower parole eligibility, or will the new law apply and they’re not eligible for probation and they have to serve 85% of the time before they’re eligible for parole?” said Mashni.
The law’s three-strike rule has garnered a lot of attention. If someone is convicted of their third felony, they’ll receive a life sentence. Mashni says it’s unlikely we’ll see this occur as often as people may think.
“When you’re talking about violent felonies, they’re not eligible for parole. There. We’re talking about people that have served 10 to 20 years and have been institutionalized in prison, then are released and then pick up another one,” said Mashni.
HB5 also increases penalties for fleeing and evading police.
“What was a, if you were in a car, a Class D felony is now a Class C felony, and you’re not eligible for probation. So, you’d have to serve 50% of that time, five to 10 years,” said Mashni. “So, beware and abide when the police direct you to do something.”
If you’re on foot and flee, that will now go from a misdemeanor to a felony, which is also not eligible for probation.