MPBN: Maine Criminal Code Overhaul In the Works

By Mal Leary

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It’s been more than three decades since lawmakers last revised Maine’s criminal code.  Back then, the process significantly changed several laws nad repealed those considered archaic.  As Mal Leary reports, a state panel is planning to create a Criminal Code Revision Commission to undertake a similar review again.

Last time around, it was a monumental task that addressed everything from victimless crimes, such as sex acts between consenting adults, to poker games.  Maine Attorney General Janet Mills said the panel’s work actually changed the lives of Mainers.

“They put the politics behind them and they went on and did the right thing,” Mills said. “Parole alone was a huge issue. Marijuana decriminalization, sentencing classification – uge issues. They took it on and got it done. Other states haven’t been able to do that.”

The criminal code, which took effect March 1, 1976, set up five classes of crimes, from E – the lowest, with less than six months in jail – to class A, with a 20-year maximum sentence. Murder was treated separately, with life imprisonment as the maximum penalty.

But the fairness of that classification system has eroded over the years, said Brunswick Democratic Sen. Stan Gerzofsky, co-chair of the panel. “One legislator’s wife had her purse stolen out of her convertible.  We put a law in that it was a harsher sentence for the person that stole it than to steal the whole car for a joyride for the day,” Gerzofsky said.

And there are many crimes, particularly in the state’s hunting and fishing laws, that some on the panel believe should be reviewed as well.

The broader the scope of the commission, the more costly it will be.  Back in 1976, it cost a little over $60,000 in state and federal funds to revise the criminal code. This study could cost a half-million dollars over three years. Charles Laverdiere is the chief judge of the District Court, and a panel member.

“My 40-year-old son tells me regularly that, ‘Dad, I wish I had a nickel for every time you told me if you can’t do it right, don’t do it at all.’ And I think that applies here,” Laverdiere said.

Most on the panel appear to favor asking for a state appropriation to do the study.

Members of the panel are also struggling with the make-up of the commission itself.  Rep. Mike Carey, a Democrat from Lewiston, wants it modeled somewhat on the original study group.

“I don’t think there should be legislators on here,” he said. “I think we have our say in this building.”

Elizabeth Ward Saxl, executive director of the Maine Coalition Against Sexual Assault, argues for a broad representation of groups on the panel.

“I think it has been sort of standard practice and I get that this is a very long – that this is a commission that is supposed to have a lot of longevity, but where there is at least a victim representative,” she said.

Cumberland County District Attorney Stephanie Anderson also serves on the panel, and says all groups should have a voice, but not necessarily be a voting member of the commission.

“If you are sexual assault response services, when those statues come in, you’re going to be invited,” Anderson said.. “If you are talking about protection from abuse orders, Family Crisis Services – or a similar organization – will be invited.”

The panel is also grappling with staffing for the proposed commission. Several discussed the 1970’s model, where Boston College law professor Sanford Fox was hired as the director of the project.

The panel has yet to finalize its recommendations, which are due to be submitted to the full Legislature by March 1 of next year.