Senator Whitney Westerfield Talks Criminal Justice

Republican KY Senator Whitney Westerfield (Hopkinsville) talks with Jazmin and Robert about criminal justice on this episode.  They talk about:

• SB 120, a law sponsored by Sen. Westerfield that passed in a paired down fashion this year.  Sen Westerfield walks us through the process of why and how the bill was passed, and why some of the more ambitious pieces were removed from the final bill.
• HB 333, a law passed in the most recent session that increased penalties on fentanyl trafficking.  The group talked about the interplay between this law and HB 463 from 2011, which steered nonviolent offenders towards treatment instead of incarceration.
• SB 200 from 2014, which Sen. Westerfield sponsored and which made significant changes to the juvenile justice system, including mandatory diversion programs for first-time misdemeanor offenders.  Sen. Westerfield talks to us about the bipartisan nature with which the bill was created, and how it has changed the justice system in Kentucky.