Senator Cropsey’s statement is as follows:
I want all members of the Senate to know and I think it is important that every member of this Senate realize that on the past three bills and on this bill, what we are doing is going to be increasing the number of people going to prison. Did you catch that? We will be increasing the number of people going to prison.
Now I chair the Corrections budget. I am voting for these bills and I am going to vote for this bill, but it is important to realize that people are saying we need to put more people out on the street who are in prison. As a Senate, we are saying there is a crime problem and there is a very, serious crime problem. If we would put more people out on the street, we will increase the crime problem.
But let me give you an idea on this package of bills. One prosecutor, the prosecutor in Calhoun County said if this package of bills had been passed within the last two years, there were 32 prosecutions that he would have under this package of bills. That is one medium-sized county in this state. Keep this in mind, too, that in the past year, in a city of 57,000, the city of Saginaw, there had been 162 people who have been hit by bullets, much of it, if not most of it, is gang-related violence.
Folks, we have a huge, huge crime problem in this state. We have a very violent population in certain parts of this state, and it is not just your traditional major inner-city areas. Who would have thought 20, 30, or 40 years ago that the city of Holland, Michigan, would have a major gang problem in the city? Holland, Tulip Time Festivals. Now I am making the point so that we realize that not only in these bills, but as we go into the budget bills, we have got more felons running on our streets probably than ever before. I want everybody to realize—and this point was made in the Corrections subcommittee a week ago—that we are incarcerating felons, violent felons at about half the rate of the national average. But yet, we have people in our state government and people outside of our state government who are trying to tell us we have too many people in prison and we need to let people go.
By passing this legislation, this Senate is making a very clear, strong message to the people of this state that we are tired of crime. We are tired of people going into our prison system and coming out of our prison system and re-victimizing folks, and we are going to be making the commitment that if you do a violent felony and you victimize people, you are going to go away and spend part of your time in prison.
Folks, that is going to cost money, but is that important? Yes, it is very important because that is our No. 1 function of state government to make sure that the violent felons are not preying on the people, the law-abiding people of this state. Do I encourage your vote on this bill? You betcha, but just remember it is one thing to say at this point and to vote for it, but when the Corrections budget comes up, that better be a priority that we need to take a look at too.