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House Backs Greater Penalties for Home Invasions
KSBI News
Story Created:
Mar 12, 2009 at 4:31 PM CDT
Story Updated:
Mar 12, 2009 at 7:04 PM CDT
Thursday, March 12, 2009; Posted: 4:28 p.m. (CDT)
KSBI-TV has reported on home invasions on numerous occasions and it's a crime some say happens too often.
Kelsey Willis says, "I've experienced home invasions myself and people get away with it."
This home invasion victim goes on to say, "The penalties aren't high enough where they'll go out and do it again."
The OSU student agrees with House Bill 1030.
"I do think there should be stiffer penalties," says Willis.
If made law, it would require those convicted to serve at least 85 percent of their sentence.
It would also require those criminals to serve a minimum of 10 years behind bars or as many as 20 years in a correctional facility.
Representative John Wright, R-Broken Arrow, says, "The one place that Oklahomans should have a sense of sanctuary, a sense of peace and security is in their own home."
Wright says he defined home invasion as a crime involving two or more armed people and he says he did that for a reason.
"It's not my intent to take into consideration all of the issues where there is domestic disputes," says Rep. Wright. "What my intent is here is the activity of organized gangs, organized individuals with intent to wreak terror on people in their own home forcibly enter the house."
The lawmaker hopes it will cut down on those home invasion stories and help the victims rest easier.
Willis says, "I do not feel safe with those people out there on those streets."
Under the bill, home invasion is also defined as a crime that involved forcibly bursting or breaking the wall, or an outer door, window, or shutter at a home.
As for what's next for House Bill 1030, it will now proceed to the Senate.
