Requiring judges to order probation instead of prison for some criminals could save the state of Ohio as much as $62 million a year, while taking a bite out of corrections facility overcrowding, proponents of the approach say.

That certainly will appeal to Gov. John Kasich and state legislators, who are attempting to find ways to close an $8 billion gap in the next two-year state budget.

Saving tens of millions of dollars — and at the same time avoiding the cost of building new prisons — may prove irresistible to state officials. But what about protecting the public? …

Rather than a one-size-fits-all approach to sentencing, judges should be given some latitude to deal with that type of criminal.

A strict requirement that probation, not prison, be ordered for an entire class of offenses would not allow that leeway. …

The Marietta Times

Immigration reform push shouldn’t trump decency

Comprehensive immigration reform may be years away, but Congress at least should tackle heartless legal absurdities that lead to cases such as this: On Jan. 31, a judge in Cleveland ordered West Price Hill sisters Tapiwa Nkata, 25, and Dominique Nkata, 21, to be deported, even though they have lived legally in the United States virtually their entire lives. …

Is this equitable? Does it make any sense? Of course not.

It is a perfectly awful — and awfully perfect — example of the immigration bureaucracy’s Kafkaesque machinations. The way the laws are applied often seems to lack common sense.

The Nkatas played by the rules, went through the process but wound up getting burned, though the sisters will remain here while their case is on appeal. …

This is not an issue of amnesty for people sneaking into the country illegally and committing criminal acts. The Nkatas, like so many others, came here to study and apparently followed procedures. The family has lived here legally.

Yet the two sisters were subjected to the hyperlegalities of deportation, even though they meet the criteria for permanent resident status. …

This isn’t about enabling lawbreakers or taking away citizens’ jobs or hauling 11 million people in boxcars across our borders.

It is about applying rationality and humanity. It is about establishing firm but fair standards. It is about eliminating the kind of cruel nonsense that threatens to rip apart decent, productive, quintessentially American families like the Nkatas.

The Cincinnati Enquirer