Judges: MARK PRYOR, Attorney General
Filed Date: 3/12/2002
Status: Precedential
Modified Date: 7/5/2016
Ms. Barbara Webb, Prosecuting Attorney Twenty-Second Judicial District 102 South Main Street Benton, AR 72015
Dear Ms. Webb:
You have presented the following question for my opinion:
Are persons who committed the offense of residential burglary prior to August 13, 2001, and who are sentenced to imprisonment after that date, eligible to serve their sentences of imprisonment in a regional correctional facility?
RESPONSE
It is my opinion that such persons will not be deemed eligible to serve their sentences of imprisonment in a regional correctional facility.
As you note in your correspondence, this issue is affected by Act 1255 of 2001. That Act amended A.C.A. §
This scenario raises the issue of the retroactive application of sentencing legislation. In a long line of cases, the Arkansas Supreme Court has held that the sentencing law that is in effect at the time the offense was committed will control — even if an amendatory act has reduced the punishment for that offense. See, e.g., Edwards v. State, CR 00-1452, ___ S.W.3d ___ (January 10, 2002); State v. Ross,
Because Act 1255 of 2001 contains no statement of a legislative intent that it be applied retroactively to include residential burglary offenders, I must conclude that such offenders whose crimes were committed before the effective date of the Act, but who are sentenced after that date, are not eligible to serve their sentences in a regional correctional facility. Assistant Attorney General Suzanne Antley prepared the foregoing opinion, which I hereby approve.
Sincerely,
MARK PRYOR Attorney General
Elders v. State , 321 Ark. 60 ( 1995 )
Suggs v. State , 322 Ark. 40 ( 1995 )
State v. Townsend , 314 Ark. 427 ( 1993 )
Forrest City MacHine Works, Inc. v. Aderhold Ex Rel. Cross ... , 273 Ark. 33 ( 1981 )
Clark v. State , 246 Ark. 876 ( 1969 )
AKA v. Jefferson Hosp. Ass'n, Inc. , 344 Ark. 627 ( 2001 )
Bowen v. State , 322 Ark. 483 ( 1995 )
State v. Ross , 344 Ark. 364 ( 2001 )
State v. Murphy , 315 Ark. 68 ( 1993 )
Dobbert v. Florida , 97 S. Ct. 2290 ( 1977 )
Collins v. Youngblood , 110 S. Ct. 2715 ( 1990 )
California Department of Corrections v. Morales , 115 S. Ct. 1597 ( 1995 )