Our Opinion: Realistic approach to criminal code revisions

News Tribune editorial

Striving for excellence must not be confused with insisting on perfection.

A comprehensive revision of Missouri's criminal code has been approved by the Legislature and advanced to Gov. Jay Nixon, who has expressed qualms.

The revised code reflects a combined eight years of striving for excellence, beginning with five years of crafting by legal professionals followed by three years of honing by lawmakers.

Is the final, 608-page version perfect? Probably not.

And that is the basis of the governor's reservations.

"This is an area where there simply is no room for error," Nixon said, after the bill arrived on his desk. He also expressed concerns about the "limited time" - 15 days - to review and act on the measure.

Nixon's concerns are hardly new. He repeatedly had asked lawmakers to divide the comprehensive code into a series of smaller segments.

Lawmakers balked at the suggested piecemeal approach.

Although incremental or compartmental change is preferable for some issues, we believe the criminal code is among the exceptions.

Each category of crime and range of punishment must be evaluated in connection with lesser and greater offenses.

We agree with the governor that the process must be done carefully.

But we see nothing slipshod or hasty about the eight years of drafting, revising and finalizing. If the bill becomes law, it does not become effective until Jan. 1, 2017. The duration provides ample time for legal professionals to become acquainted with its provisions and for lawmakers to make corrections, if needed.

The comprehensive criminal code is not likely to be free of errors, but segmenting it into a series of smaller bills would not guarantee perfection.

Specifics in the code arguably are too lenient or too harsh, but - on the whole - the document is reasonable, consistent and deserves to become law.