Earlier this year, the ACLU of Rhode Island released a report, “Rhode Island’s Statehouse to Prison Pipeline,” taking an in-depth look at the General Assembly's overzealous approach to criminal law making. Between 2000 and 2017, the General Assembly created more than 170 new crimes, and increased prison sentences for dozens of existing offenses. Many of these “new” crimes make criminal offenses out of conduct that was already prohibited by existing laws, but establishing harsher penalties and more serious consequences, without any evidence that they will have any effect on criminal conduct.
2017 was no different, with multiple bills introduced in this same spirit. For example, H 7445 expanded upon a bill passed last year that carved out a new offense for assaults committed against delivery drivers, to now include taxi drivers. Assault is, of course, already illegal regardless of the profession of the victim. Our full testimony on this bill can be found here. Other bills introduced this year sought to increase penalties on existing crimes. H 7390, for example, could have increased fivefold the amount of time an offender spends in prison for damaging phone lines, from 2 to 10 years. As of now, there is nothing suggesting that such sentencing increases are anything other than arbitrary. Both proposals failed to move out of committee, but a number of others (such as H 7223A and S 2135A) did pass, continuing this disturbing trend.
