It's always popular for politicians to talk tough about crime, but a former judge warned Wednesday that the Legislature's penchant for creating more and tougher penalties is leading to a vast increase in the prison population.

Rep. Kay L. Mclff, R-Richfield, is a former 6th District judge, told members of the Judiciary Interim Committee that the Legislature has for years boosted penalties for certain crimes and has increased the number of offenses that can arise from a single criminal episode.

At the risk of appearing "soft on crime," Mclff said the Legislature needs to address the affect it is having on prisons. "I think it would be useful for us to take a look at it and see if we're on the right track in the way we respond."

Mclff is not suggesting a "soft on crime" approach but emphasizes "getting smart" as well as "getting tough" on crime.

"The great temptation in cases when something goes amiss (is) we simply ratchet up the penalty because we're offended by it," he said.

However, that does not address the cost of building new prisons and providing enough beds, staff and programming for prisoners; and it sometimes actually defeats the purpose of an otherwise helpful law.

An example is the creation of "drug free zones" that added penalties for anyone dealing drugs within 1,000 feet of a school or church. The idea was to add punishment for anyone dealing where children are likely to congregate.

But the "drug-free zone" concept has been expanded so greatly that these areas often encompass almost an entire community, which then does not act as a deterrent for a drug dealer to stay away from children because the penalty if caught is no different in one place than another.

"You end up defeating the very things you are trying hard to accomplish," Mclff said. "Nobody's going to vote to reduce the area of a drug-free zone. Maybe we could change the title to a 'penalty enhancement zone' and get support. If we don't, we'll have the ever-increasing challenge to stay ahead of our ever-increasing prison population."

Mclff's idea was supported by Rep. Eric Hutchings, R-Kearns, another committee member, who reminded the group of a number of times the Legislature has boosted misdemeanors to felonies.

"We made it a felony offense to drive an ATV into a freshly plowed field," Hutchings said. "We do that (kind of thing) every year."

Hutchings said a chart from the Utah Department of Corrections showed the number of reported crimes increased somewhat during the 1990s, but reports have dropped since then. However, the number of felony sentences has consistently gone up.

Hutchings said the University of Utah is documenting that very topic for the Utah Sentencing Commission this summer and suggested the commission meet with the Judiciary Committee to review the study when finished.