The source list Republican lawmakers are using to support the Safer Kentucky Act appears to come from a 2023 paper arguing for solutions to crime in Atlanta.
Conservative criminal justice reformer Joey Comley said he discovered the paper used the exact same citations and formatting while researching to speak on the bill ahead of a Tuesday committee hearing.
“It's dawning on me, I've recently read something that had the same source list,” Comley said. “So then I looked and on my desk, I've got that printed off. And it's clearly a cut and paste.”
Kentucky Public Radio obtained a copy of the report whose source list mirrors the citations used to defend the Safer Kentucky Act — a report created by the Georgia Center for Opportunity to suggest crime solutions for Atlanta, not Kentucky.
The sponsors for the Safer Kentucky Act released a list of more than 100 academic sources they say support the tough on crime legislation after the legislation passed the state House in late January.
An KPR analysis from February found many of those citations had nothing to do with the question of increased sentences. Others actively argued for alternatives to increased sentences.
Read the rest at Louisville Public Media.
