The first trial of a defendant indicted for participating in protests against the Atlanta police training center was set to begin this week but was delayed on procedural grounds. Sixty-one people have been charged in the state’s RICO case alleging the protestors committed acts of violence and vandalism. While the trial has been delayed, the decision to prosecute the large group of defendants is a clear example of the Kemp administration’s commitment to getting tough on crime.
Kemp’s approach to crime is a departure from the public safety policies embraced by his predecessor Nathan Deal, and is more aligned with Zell Miller, the governor who preceded him in office by almost two decades.
Miller brought with him to the governor’s office in 1991 a flinty disposition forged in the hardscrabble mountains of North Georgia. He adhered to a rigid belief that actions have consequences. And so it was in keeping with his character that near the end of his first term, Miller introduced one of the harshest criminal justice bills in the country.
The measure called for a constitutional amendment establishing severe penalties for “the seven deadly sins,” which ranged from armed robbery to sex crimes and murder. Approved by voters in the 1994 midterm elections, the amendment required judges to hand down minimum sentences for a first offense of at least 10 years in prison with no opportunity for parole. A second conviction brought a mandatory sentence of life with no chance for parole.
Miller’s bill also called for a draconian rewrite of juvenile justice laws. It established that offenders as young as 13 indicted for certain violent crimes would be tried as adults and would serve sentences of at least 5 years or more in juvenile jails. In cases of the most serious crimes, youth offenders could be given sentences of as long as 30 years.
Rick Dent, who was a key aide to Miller, reminded me that the bill, which became known as the “two strikes” law, was introduced just as Miller was launching his reelection campaign. His approval ratings were underwater at that point. But taking a hard line on crime turned out to be a key issue in his successful bid for re-election.
“It’s very rare to have something that’s good public policy and good politics at the same time.” Dent told me. “And the key to that is it would be a constitutional amendment, which meant it would be on the ballot with us in November.”
While Democrats may have the image of being soft on crime “no one could pin that label on Zell Miller,” Dent told me.
More than a decade later, Governor Nathan Deal came into office determined to reverse some of Miller’s harshest measures.
Over two terms Deal passed sweeping legislation designed to reduce the state’s prison population by giving non-violent offenders a second chance at changing their lives. He passed bills that reduced certain non-violent felony offenses to misdemeanors and won approval for a measure that created less severe penalties for minor drug offenses. Those changes alone saved the state from paying the enormous costs — $20,000 per inmate — of housing convicted offenders in state prisons. They also reduced the number of African Americans sentenced to state prison to historic lows.
In addition, Deal established more than 100 accountability courts across the state for drug offenses, the mentally ill, veterans and juveniles who committed non-violent offenses. The accountability courts eased the dockets of criminal courts, and most important, spared those who came before them from prison time and diverted them to programs designed to help turn their lives around.
Deal supporters said that in passing humane reforms, the governor “led with his heart.”
Kemp sees public safety differently. His return to tougher policies was best exemplified by legislation he passed last session establishing mandatory prison sentences for gang-related crimes and even harsher penalties for those convicted of recruiting minors into gangs. And it was Kemp who led the charge on declaring many of the training center protestors “domestic terrorists,” opening them to significant prison time.
Dent, channeling his former boss Zell Miller, thinks Kemp’s approach is right for the times.
“I think we’ve all seen that Covid seemed to correlate with a massive increase in crime, and everyone has felt that. And there was just this reaction of everything’s falling apart and no one’s doing anything about it. So I think (Kemp) is in a very solid place in terms of what he wants to do about crime. He’s reading the tea leaves perfectly.”
Dent may be right. Kemp has the highest approval ratings of any elected official in Georgia. Tough-on-crime Zell Miller left office with the highest approval ratings in the country at the time — 85% liked what he’d done as governor while Nathan Deal, the champion for reform, closed out his tenure with a 63% approval rating.
Many factors go into how voters feel about their elected officials. But perhaps Miller’s sky-high approval rating suggests that voters appreciated his harsh measures for dealing with crime. But Deal’s strong number may suggest that Georgians also believe that justice shouldn’t only be about punishment, but about rehabilitation, too. That may be a lesson for elected officials as they contemplate the next round of criminal justice initiatives.
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