The Hattiesburg American, 3/24/8
While some people have expressed concern about Mississippi lengthening the sentences for criminals who break into homes where people are present, we believe, considering the seriousness of the crime, the longer sentences are justified.
Gov. Haley Barbour signed a bill this week that would increase the penalty for home invasion from a minimum of three years in prison to a minimum of 10 years.
Critics of the bill feel legislation like that will increase the prison population, which is always a costly proposition, but we believe in this case it truly is better to be safe than sorry.
Home invasions are indeed serious stuff, and they need to be dealt with accordingly.
Likewise prison crowding is serious stuff in Mississippi. Even so, the state does have ways to ease the overpopulation at our prisons.
