INDIANAPOLIS — The legislative session convenes tomorrow at the Indiana Statehouse.
With it being a shorter session this year, lawmakers are working double-time to make sure the legislation they wish to see passed gets its day on the House and Senate floors. Among those lawmakers is State Sen. Mike Young (R-Indianapolis).
Young is one of the five GOP senators in the statehouse pushing legislation to reduce crime. Though most of the legislation has to do with increasing crime numbers in Indianapolis, Young tells All Indiana Politics that his bill applies statewide.
“If you look at Marion County, the murder rate, 43-percent of the people who committed a murder or were suspected to committing a murder were out on bail, either reduced or very low bail,” Young said.
Reduced: meaning a judge set a suspect’s bail lower than the county’s bail schedule. That is essentially the minimum amount that someone can pay in bail in order to get out of jail. Young’s bill would get the state involved not just in Marion County but in all of Indiana’s 92 counties.
“Under the Indiana constitution, unlike the federal constitution, you’re entitled to bail,” said Young. “It doesn’t say it has to be easy to obtain. So we say that each county’s bail scheduled, wherever it’s set, you can’t go below that. You can always go higher based on the evidence.”
Young said that not only will this help Marion County with its crime problems, but anywhere else that may be struggling with the same issues.
