Face the Facts: Are stricter sentencing guidelines needed for repeat offenders?

Hartford Mayor Luke Bronin led a team of mayors, police chiefs and others crafting a proposal to change sentencing guidelines to keep violent, repeat offenders behind bars longer.

But as the last legislative session closed, many of those goals in that proposal were not realized. So will we see this up for debate when lawmakers reconvene coming up?

NBC Connecticut's Mike Hydeck spoke with State Sen. Paul Cicarella (R-North Haven) who is a ranking member of the Public Safety and Security Committee.

Mike Hydeck: Senate Republicans, state Republicans have been calling on change in sentencing for these repeat, violent offenders. Do you feel like this is going to start to get some traction with your compatriots across the aisle now?

Paul Cicarella: I hope so, but this problem didn't just start happening a few months ago. This problem has been here for years, since I started to run for this seat. And for the three years that I've been in office, we've been talking about the crime, and how it is constantly rising and how it's affecting our everyday citizens of Connecticut.

Mike Hydeck: And when we see a Democratic mayor in Luke Bronin, we see others in the Democratic Party who are maybe not necessarily on the state level, other mayors who are part of crafting this proposal. Is there a disconnect between them and the people in the statehouse?

Paul Cicarella: You know, public safety should not be made political. And I do think there is a disconnect. I think Mayor Bronin is seeing and hearing from his residents that there is a problem, and we need help. And I hear it all the time from individuals not only in my district, but across our state. And I think that our colleagues on the other side of the aisle, if you will, have to take action, and sooner than later because every day we turn on the TV and we see something horrific, like what happened to Jordan, or there was a shooting in Harford yesterday. Something has to change. And soon.

Mike Hydeck: So let's talk a little bit more about that reform package that was out by Mayor Bronin. And among the things, it's not just about keeping people behind bars, right, there are other leaves to this for the bigger picture. So once they're out there, there's no you know, going back. So mental health, things like that.

Paul Cicarella: Sure, that's a big, big part of it. The individuals that are committing these crimes over and over again, these youthful offenders, they need to be shown another way, and without getting consequences for their actions, which we see that they don't have many consequences for their actions, they're gonna continue to do this. And we need to find a way to put them on the right path. And that's why it's a full package of legislation, it's not just be tough on crime, you know, lock them up and throw away the key. I disagree with that philosophy. But we need to take into consideration the everyday, law-abiding citizen that's going on with their daily lives, first and foremost, to make sure our streets are safe. And something has to be done with these repeat offenders.

Mike Hydeck: And they continue to, whether it's the stealing of the Hyundais and the Kias, when they go in front of a judge or they go in front of a prosecutor. They don't feel as if they're going to be incarcerated very long, or even in trouble very long.

Paul Cicarella: Well, as I was talking to you earlier about this, they know the laws. They know how long they could be held for. I talk to officers, the full rank and file. And not only law enforcement. I talk to advocacy groups and individuals that are affected by this violence all the time, and hear the same thing. They know what they can and can't get away with. And I've heard officers tell me when they were driving someone to the department to be processed, 'you can't keep me that long.' And 'I'm gonna be back out on the street.' And that's, again, a problem.

Mike Hydeck: And I'm sure that's frustrating for everybody involved. So these reforms are going to come with a cost, right? So if you have to increase mental health services, you have to increase job training programs that try to get these young people, or even any offender, on a better track, it's going to come with some money. So how do you think that's going to be funded if we can try to move forward with something like that?

Paul Cicarella: Well, you know, I think that we have to, first and foremost, to focus on the public safety. And I think it's gonna start with our judicial branch. We have officers making arrests, and unfortunately, the individuals are getting out, as Luke Bronin mentioned. We need to find a way to address that first. There are great advocacy groups and nonprofits that are working at this. There's a lot of resources for mental health. We passed some legislation for mental health, specifically for children and juveniles last session. And there is resources there. We need to come together and figure out how to implement those resources productively, efficiently and make the biggest difference we can for them. But again, first and foremost, it's reasonable consequences for one's actions, and make sure individuals are not back on the street doing these crimes over and over and over again, and that's what we see.

Mike Hydeck: So the governor recently decided to make an effort to try to cut down on violence by focusing on stricter gun legislation. Has he said anything about this package related to the bigger picture, what we're talking about here, Luke Bronin's package? Has the governor mentioned anything on that that seems as if he would be shading in the direction to support it? Or have you not heard that?

Paul Cicarella: I mean, I have not heard specifically the comments that were made. I think that the mayor's legislation is needed and is reasonable. And I think that the governor's office does agree with that. But again, we have to take that just a step further than just the idea of, you know, increased bonds. It needs to be a full plan of action. It can't just be that one piece of legislation that's going to be making the difference, especially when it comes to the gun violence. You know, the gun legislation that was passed this session does not attack the root cause of our problems with gun violence on the streets. We requested data and we got at the beginning of the week, and they're talking about ghost guns. The gun crimes here in Connecticut, it is a very small percentage of crimes that are committed with these ghost guns. We need to be stronger on repeat offenders that have serious gun charges, as Luke Bronin mentioned.

Mike Hydeck: And among that would be a gun docket, where specifically set aside in the courts, which would take more judges and more support staff and things like that.

Paul Cicarella: And that is the biggest problem. I've had conversations with state's attorney and they need more resources. We need more judges. We need more resources for prosecutors, because the gun docket is very large. And another thing with the gun docket, we tried to move some legislation in the right direction to handle that backlog of the gun docket. But again, it's not going to solve our problem. And another thing that is done with the gun docket, if someone is incarcerated and could not make bond, their case gets heard first. The individual that's out on bond, their case will be a less of a priority. Therefore this person who is or has committed serious gun offenses and violent gun offenses are on the street longer - so it just doesn't make sense. So they do need the resources. And this year, the public defender's office got an increased amount, I think it was $7 million, and the public defender's office does have important work to do and making sure that individuals you know have the ability be proven innocent. But you know, our prosecutors have a job to do. They didn't get an increase to that size.