Overview
HB348 made substantial changes to practices and procedures in Utah’s criminal justice system. Targeted policy shifts included penalty reductions to certain low-level traffic and drug-related offenses to reduce the burden placed on local jails and the state’s prison population.
Traffic Filings
Policies in the reform bill reclassified certain low-level traffic offenses from a Misdemeanor C to an Infraction. The figure below shows the number of traffic-related court filings in Utah between fiscal years 2014-19 by severity. As expected, a significant shift occurred in fiscal year 2016, with the number of Misdemeanor C court filings decreasing drastically while the number of Infractions increased drastically.
Figure 1: Number of Traffic Filings in FY 2014
Drug Possession Only Filings
HB348 further reduced the severity of drug possession-only offenses (for the first 2 convictions) from a Felony 3 to a Misdemeanor A, thereby reducing the number of offenders eligible for a prison sentence. Similar to the figure above, the figure shows a significant shift occurring in fiscal year 2016, with the number of Felony 3 filings decreasing while the number of Misdemeanor A filings increasing.
Figure 2: Number of drug possession only filings
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HB348 Policy Shifts