By Kentucky Public Radio
http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/wuky/local-wuky-788524.mp3
Frankfort, KY – Faced with a burgeoning and increasingly expensive prison population, the executive and legislative branches of government are scrambling to find answers. One is to rewrite the state's Penal Code, which in the last 30 years has been heavily amended with get-tough-on-crime statutes some see as too punitive. Many Code revision recommendations are coming from prosecutors, which pleases Rep. Greg Stumbo. "When your car won't work, you don't take it back to the guy who engineered it. You take it back to the guy that fixes them every day."
Two previous efforts to revise the Penal Code failed, but Stumbo believes this third attempt may succeed. Some executive branch recommendations for tweaking the Code are due on the governor's desk by December 1st. A legislative panel making a thorough review of the Code wants more time and is seeking an extension of its December deadline.