Law Enforcement Concerned About Class D Felonies

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A new class of felony has local enforcement worried the state will be releasing prisoners too soon. The Prison Reform Act signed by Governor Bentley in May of 2015 was designed to help prisons deal with over-crowding. Part of the act lowers the sentencing of Class C felonies to a new type of crime known as Class D felonies, allowing non-violent offenders to avoid jail time.

“I feel like this is a step in the wrong direction,” says Butler County Sheriff Kenny Harden. And he is not alone. Many in law enforcement think the new guidelines are going to put criminals back on the streets sooner with little punishment.

Class D felonies are now the lowest level of felonies in the state. They include crimes such as unlawful possession of marijuana or a controlled substance for personal use, theft and theft of services third, theft of lost property third, receiving stolen property third, criminal possession of forged instrument third, forgery third or illegal possession or fraudulent use of credit or debit card.

The punishment for a class D felony is little to no prison time and usually involves some form of probation. Supporters of the Reform Act say it would fix a population problem in prisons that has festered for years. However, Harden disagrees.

“You got a child that’s putting his hands in the cookie jar, and you tell him not to do it. Then he comes back and does it again, ‘You say I told you not to!’ Well he’s going to come back a third time. You have to punish them somehow or another,” Harden explains.

Greenville Chief Investigator Justin Lovvorn is also not a fan of the new felony classification. He says around 30 percent of the crimes in Greenville are now considered Class D felonies.

“That could be hazardous to the public,” he says. “Having those type of people just be arrested and released back with a probation sentence instead of a prison sentence.”

While both men agree their jobs will not be any more difficult, the new guidelines lay out a situation where only the criminals win.

“It seems like they’re trying to get everything they can to keep people out of DOC (Department of Corrections),” says Harden. “And to me, I think that’s going to be a safety issue for the communities.”

“Just as a father and a husband, I wouldn’t want my family to be exposed to a criminal unnecessarily, that hasn’t learned his lesson. Because he thinks he can get away with it, because of the guidelines that have changed,” adds Lovvorn.