S.C.’s sentence reduction bill would create more crime and more victims

Members of the South Carolina General Assembly, under the guise of reform, are taking criminal justice in the wrong direction, and one-sided reporting on proposed legislation is making real reform less of a possibility.

A recent story published in The State and The Herald (Rock Hill) titled, “Is SC punishing people as drug dealers who aren’t? New bill wants to ensure state doesn’t” tells a story of Kerrie Wilson, an Upstate woman serving a 7 year sentence for drug trafficking. The article portrays Wilson as “a victim of circumstance… being unjustly punished.”

In May 2018, police found Wilson with 50 grams of methamphetamine and digital scales inside her purse. Two months later, while out on bond, Wilson was again arrested for drugs found in her home in Laurens County.

Wilson pleaded guilty to her drug charges in Laurens and Greenville County and received a seven-year sentence. She could have received 25 years.

Nowhere in the story is there any input from prosecutors or law enforcement. Instead the reporter elicited comments from legislators, public defenders, and Wilson’s grandmother. While the story indicated that the drugs belonged to Wilson’s boyfriend, a meth dealer with a long criminal history whom she met while he was in prison, Wilson never did.

Yet, Wilson’s case is being hailed as “Exhibit A” in describing what is wrong with our criminal justice system. The problem, it claims, is not with the criminal choices being made by people like Wilson, but with the actions of law enforcement and prosecutors.

This distorted vision of police officers and prosecutors is openly embraced by leaders from both political parties in a new sentencing reduction bill (H.3623) that is being fast-tracked through the General Assembly.

Two of my colleagues recently testified in opposition, along with the Sheriffs Association, during a House subcommittee on H.3623. This legislation reduces all drug sentences, makes all drug offenses eligible for probation and eliminates the requirement that inmates serve 85% of their sentence for serious drug offenses. In addition, the proposed legislation makes these changes retroactive. In other words, this legislation would open the gates to our prisons and return many of these offenders back to our streets well before they have served their sentence.

If it passes, this legislation will lead to more crime and more victims. The bill treats dealers the same as users by reducing sentences on traffickers, and it will hamper law enforcement’s ability to dismantle drug trafficking operations that are bringing death and misery to our communities.

We must shift our efforts in the criminal justice reform debate to common sense reforms.

We should properly fund drug courts and veterans’ courts. These courts along with other diversion programs, developed and run by solicitors, have been working successfully, allowing addicts, non-violent, and other first-time offenders another chance at becoming productive citizens in lieu of a prison sentence.

Our General Assembly should also address gang activity. Unlike North Carolina and Georgia, South Carolina does not have a meaningful gang statute that allows law enforcement and prosecutors to dismantle violent gangs, many of which drive the drug trade in our state.

Third, we should have truth in sentencing. When a judge sentences a dangerous offender to prison the defendant should have to serve the sentence. Unfortunately, state mandated early release mechanisms mean offenders typically serve a fraction of their sentence. This puts dangerous people back on to our streets and undermines the integrity of our criminal justice system.

South Carolina’s prosecutors welcome the opportunity to work with the General Assembly on these important issues for real criminal justice reform that result in long-term savings of resources while making South Carolina a safer place to live.

Rick Hubbard is Solicitor of the 11 th Judicial Circuit, one of sixteen elected state prosecutors in South Carolina, and is the current President of the South Carolina Solicitors’ Association.