State House and Senate conferees have agreed in concept to remove the ability of judges to reduce mandatory prison sentences under a new three-strikes penalty for violent criminals. Lawmakers also agreed to include burglary on a list of violent crimes that would trigger the penalty.

House conferees said they will drop a provision giving judges discretion to lower sentences under extraordinary circumstances as long as prosecutors — as they could in an earlier version of the bill — would not have the right to waive the three-strikes penalty when defendants are cooperating in other cases.

Conferees have also agreed that burglary would count toward the penalty if at least one of the other three convictions is a violent crime.

"I'm pleased all parties were able to come to an agreement," state Rep. Sylvia Luke, D-26th (Punchbowl, Pacific Heights, Nu'uanu Valley), the chairwoman of the House Judiciary Committee, said last night.

The conference committee discussing the bill is expected to vote on the compromise this afternoon and send it to the House and Senate for final approval.

State Rep. Blake Oshiro, D-33rd (Halawa, 'Aiea, Pearlridge), the vice chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, said he recognizes the compromise does not address his concerns that mandatory minimum sentences are too rigid an approach to justice.

"It is cookie-cutter," Oshiro said. "I do acknowledge it. But I am comforted by the fact that there's a five-year sunset on this so in that time we will see what true impact this has had on whether it's reduced crimes and provided public safety or not."

The bill would impose mandatory sentences of 30 years to life after criminals are convicted of a third violent felony. The House added the five-year sunset so lawmakers would have to evaluate the results.

State Attorney General Mark Bennett said on Tuesday that he would rather have no bill if the provision giving judges discretion to lower sentences survived.

Bennett and Honolulu Prosecutor Peter Carlisle appeared on the Perry & Price radio show on KSSK yesterday morning and urged listeners to call Oshiro and other House leaders and oppose the provision. Oshiro's office received more than 100 telephone calls about the bill after the radio show.

"I'm cautiously optimistic we'll have a bill that will protect the public," Bennett told reporters after a conference committee hearing yesterday afternoon.

The House had kept burglary off a list of violent crimes covered by the penalty but agreed to a proposal by state Senate Majority Leader Colleen Hanabusa, D-21st (Nanakuli, Makaha), to put it back in with limitations.

Public defenders and some civil-liberties activists have said burglary should not be on the list because it is a property crime, not a violent crime. But Bennett has said home burglary creates an enormous risk of physical and psychological harm and should be classified as a violent crime.

Reach Derrick DePledge at ddepledge@honoluluadvertiser.com.