Portage County Legal News

Legislation to lengthen prison terms for felony offenders for elderly crimes stalls

KEITH ARNOLD
Special to the Legal News
Published: July 19, 2017

A Democrat lawmaker's proposal to lengthen prison terms of felony offenders who victimize the disabled and elderly has stalled in committee in the Ohio House of Representatives.

House Bill 109, a bill that would bring enhanced penalties for crimes that currently do not delineate an enhanced penalty when committed against the elderly and those with a disability, is sponsored by Cleveland Rep. Bill Patmon.

"Currently, 11 criminal offenses enhance the penalty for a violation of the offense when the victim of the offense has a disability or is elderly," he told members of the House Criminal Justice Committee. "The offenses are theft; unauthorized use of a vehicle; unauthorized use of property; unauthorized use of computer, cable, or telecommunications property; misuse of credit cards; forgery; secured writings by deception; identity fraud; solicitation fraud; assault; and soliciting.

"This legislation will fill in the gaps to ensure that committing one of the remaining felony offenses against a disabled or elderly person imposes an additional mandatory prison term."

HB 109 encompasses other felonies, such as telephone solicitation fraud, predatory lending, vandalism, ethnic intimidation, patient abuse, kidnapping, rape, abduction, murder and aggravated robbery, among others.

"Many of my constituents worry about going about their everyday lives for fear of what others may do to them," Patmon said.

According to 2012 U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics, the rate of violent victimization of persons with disabilities was nearly three times the rate among persons without disabilities. Persons age 65 and older were more likely to offer no resistance than younger victims, the same report detailed.

"Offenders often see persons with a disability and the elderly as easy targets," Patmon said. "We need to let offenders know that their egregious choices will come with serious consequences."

HB 109 succinctly calls for a mandatory, two-year prison sentence for any offender convicted of or who pleads guilty to a felony and also is convicted of or pleads guilty to either specification that charges the victim of the offense is a disabled person or an elderly person.

A specification that such a victim is either a disabled person or an elderly person must be added to any grand jury indictment, count, or information advanced to prosecution, the bill prescribed.

A Cincinnati-area resident offered testimony in support of the bill during a second hearing in May. Jane Gerhardt, a professional who works for an organization serving the developmentally disabled community and a parent of a 19-year-old daughter with Down syndrome, familiarized lawmakers with the unique concerns and needs of individuals with developmental disabilities.

"Individuals with cognitive disabilities belong alongside their friends, neighbors and co-workers in our communities," she said. "Full inclusion is the goal of many people with disabilities and their family members and it's certainly our goal for (our daughter).

"Her welcoming, friendly and accepting personality is what draws people to her. Yet that is also what makes her vulnerable to those who may seek to take advantage of her or worse, to do her real harm."

Other provisions of HB 109 would prohibit reductions of mandatory prison terms and enforce consecutive prison terms in instances in which any other prison term either previously or subsequently imposed upon the offender.

According to fiscal analysis of the bill provided by the Ohio Legislative Service Commission, HB 109's penalty changes may result in a few additional offenders being sentenced to a state prison or juvenile correctional facility for a longer stay than otherwise would have been the case under current law and sentencing practices.

The commission estimated that the fiscal effect would be a no more than minimal annual increase in the General Revenue Fund institutional operating expenses of the departments of Rehabilitation and Correction and Youth Services.

Patmon is joined in support of the bill by cosponsoring Republican Reps. John Becker and Tim Schaffer of Cincinnati and Lancaster, respectively.

A third hearing of HB 109 had not been scheduled at the time of publication.

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