 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Taking a Hard Line on Hard Time
Well known across the state, Idaho Senator Denton Darrington hails from the farming community in Declo, Idaho where he and his family have farmed for decades. In fact, some insist the “D” in Declo comes from “Darrington,” as many recognize the Darringtons as one of Declo’s founding families. His vocation became his chosen path of study at the University of Utah where he earned his bachelor’s degree in agriculture. In 1966, Darrington began teaching history at Burley Junior High School, a position he held until 1999.
Many members of the Darrington family chose lives of public service, and for Denton, it was no different. First elected to the Idaho State Senate in 1982, the student and teacher of history has had the opportunity to shape Idaho’s history in his more than 20 years of public service. In that time he has designed legislative solutions to problems related to hazardous waste, terrorism, children’s mental health, teen pregnancy, and education. But nowhere is his presence felt more than in the area of criminal justice, where as a member of the Senate’s Judiciary and Rules Committee he helped author Idaho’s Unified Sentencing Act.
This act, Darrington says, provides the cornerstone of Idaho’s criminal justice system, encompassing a system of “mandatory minimums” for certain crimes. Mandatory minimum provisions in Idaho are attached to driving under the influence, sexual abuse of children, and drug trafficking and manufacture.
In recent years as Idaho’s prisons reached their physical limits, some have recommended that Darrington and other legislators reduce the mandatory sentencing guidelines as a possible remedy to prison overcrowding. Darrington says this is no solution.
He notes that Idaho law contains 38 pages of felonies, yet only 10 crimes have minimum sentences attached. Denton goes on to say that unanimity exists among his committee — no one supports reductions in mandatory minimums, something that has put him at odds with groups such as the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), Friends and Families of Idaho Inmates, as well as some inside the Idaho Department of Correction.
Even so, Darrington and the committee he leads believes there is little public support for reducing minimum sentences. Rescinding mandatory minimums for drug dealers and repeat drunk drivers is unlikely, says Darrington, since there are no natural constituencies that would push for such legislation. In his 23 years as an Idaho senator, Darrington has served on the Legislative Council Interim Committee on Juvenile Justice, The Governor’s Task Force for Alternative Sentencing, the 1997 interim Committee on Criminal Justice, and in 1998 he was appointed by the governor to the Board of Juvenile Corrections. He has been a member of the Senate’s Judiciary and Rules Committee since 1982, and in 1988 became the committee’s chair — a position he still holds today.
Owing to his long-time work on criminal justice issues, the National Conference of State Legislatures in 2003 named him chairman of their national Criminal Justice Committee.
Whatever solution legislators fashion surrounding overcrowded Idaho Prisons, one thing remains certain: this farmer, teacher, and senator from Declo occupies the center of the debate.
Written by Christopher Blanchard
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |