Kansas Senate Majority Leader Terry Bruce (R-Hutchinson), in advance of the 2014 Legislative Session, has pre-filed legislation strengthening Kansas “Hard 50” sentencing guidelines. Senate bill 250 (SB 250) seeks to make a 50-year sentence, without the possibility of parole, the presumed sentence for pre-meditated first degree murder.
“SB 250 will provide much needed comfort and closure for victims’ families of some of the most heinous crimes, and will help keep hardened criminals off our streets,” said Senator Bruce. “I look forward to working with my colleagues in the legislature on passage of this much needed reform.”
The Chair and Vice Chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Kansas Senate Vice-President Jeff King and Senator Greg Smith have also signed on to the legislation as co-sponsors.
“For those who commit murder, life in prison means life in prison,” said Senator Jeff King (R-Independence). “We must take the necessary step to ensure those who kill in cold blood spend at least 50 years in jail as punishment.”
“A crime that disregards the sanctity of life needs to be punished appropriately,” said Senator Greg Smith (R-Overland Park). “Twenty-five years is not an appropriate sentence for taking a life and subjects the victim’s family to needless anguish by making them relive the murder of their loved one. Fifty years minimizes contact with the murderer for the family. While no amount of years served in prison is adequate for the crime of murder, this change, at the very least provides some shelter for the secondary victims of a murder – the victim’s family.”
SB 250 builds upon changes made to the state’s Hard 50 sentencing guidelines during last September’s Special Legislative Session.
Governor Brownback, at the urging of Attorney General Schmidt, called for the session in response to the United States Supreme Court’s Allyne v. US decision, which impacted Kansas mandatory sentencing guidelines.