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Criminal Code Rewrite Takes Effect This Summer

Last updated on Monday, February 17, 2014

(INDIANAPOLIS) - The last significant obstacle to a rewrite of Indiana’s criminal code appears to have evaporated, with an endorsement from Hoosier prosecutors.

Legislators voted last year to expand the range of felonies from five categories to seven, to allow for finer distinctions in deciding appropriate sentences.

The changes don't take effect till this July -- legislators left time to see if any last-minute corrections came up. Most of those changes address concerns raised by the Indiana Prosecuting Attorneys Council, primarily with the reduction of some drug sentences to as little as nine months.

Dearborn and Ohio County Prosecutor Aaron Negangard says with sentences that low, drug offenders would have no incentive to enter the court-ordered rehab programs authorities hope will get people out of the drug market.

The House has fixed that by setting not one but two thresholds at which sentencing ranges escalate based on how much of a drug you're caught with.

Prosecutors have announced their support for the revised bill. A Senate committee votes on the changes Tuesday.

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