Both the Mississippi House and Senate adopted the conference report for S.B. 2101, which increases minimum sentences - with prison time - for the crimes of fleeing law enforcement, resisting arrest, and carjacking. It passed the Senate by a vote of 44-8 and the House with a vote of 79-38.
The bill now heads to the Governor for final approval.
This is the only mandatory minimum bill that was still alive this session, as the other proposed pieces of legislation that would address such sentences have died throughout the session.
After Lieutenant Governor Delbert Hosemann (R) and Speaker of the House Philip Gunn (R) sign the legislation, it will head to Governor Tate Reeves (R) to be signed into law.
At the beginning of the 2023 Mississippi Legislative session, Lt. Governor Hosemann held a press conference to announce several Senate bills that aimed to curb crime across the state. Senate Bill 2101 was among the six bills that were discussed.
“We have seen an uptick nationwide, during and after the pandemic, in violent crimes like armed carjacking. No Mississippian should be afraid they are going to be held up getting into a vehicle in their driveway or at the grocery store,” Lt. Governor Hosemann said. “We have to have deterrents in the law, including minimum sentencing.”
The legislation increases minimum sentences for felony fleeing to ten years, leaving the scene where there is serious bodily injury to a minimum of five years, and leaving a scene where a death occurs to seven years.
On simple carjacking, it is a five-year mandatory minimum and on armed carjacking it is a ten-year mandatory minimum.
“Notwithstanding any other law to the contrary, the minimum terms imposed under this section shall not be reduced or suspended nor shall the defendant be eligible for electronic monitoring, house arrest or intensive supervision,” the bill states.
- Article credit to Anne Summerhays of the Magnolia Tribune --
