Restructuring Penalty Enhancements

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Making Utah's Code Fairer and More Effective

Should similar crimes be punished in equally? In Utah this isn't always the case. State Representative Wayne Harper says the current code creates special classes by stepping up the penalty for crimes committed against certain people or businesses. Not only is this discriminatory, Harper says it's not always effective. He brings up the "drug-free school zone" as an example. They started out in the 1980's as a way to keep drugs away from kids by stepping up the penalty for selling drugs within a thousand feet of a school. Since then, drug-free zones have been established around churches, playgrounds, recreational facilities, and even parking lots. The problem is that some Utah cities are almost completely covered by overlapping drug-free zones. Harper wonders whether this strategy has been diluted by the ubiquity of the program. He wants the legislature to comb through the state code and cut out some of the penalty enhancements to make Utah's justice system fairer and more effective.

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