Pubdate: Sun, 26 Aug 2001
Source: Wichita Eagle (KS)
Copyright: 2001 The Wichita Eagle
Contact:  http://www.wichitaeagle.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/680
Author: Phillip Brownlee

SENTENCING GUIDELINES NEED COMMON SENSE

Mandatory prison sentences have helped crack down on crime. But they have 
also resulted in needlessly overcrowded prisons and continued racial 
disparities -- which is why lawmakers are wisely rethinking them.

The mandatory-minimum movement took hold nearly two decades ago, when 
Congress set fixed, required sentences for various federal crimes as part 
of the Sentencing Reform Act in 1984. States soon followed -- including 
Kansas, which passed its sentencing grid in 1993.

In most cases, the goals of the guidelines were good: to fight crime and to 
make sentencing more consistent. But in recent months, prominent lawmakers 
and politicians -- including President Bush -- have expressed concerns. And 
with good cause.

They note that the required punishments have led to an explosion of 
prisoners, many of whom are nonviolent offenders. In California, mandatory 
sentences have resulted in a 25-fold increase in the number of drug 
offenders behind bars. Nationally, the number of people in U.S. prisons for 
all crimes quadrupled to 2 million from 1980 to 2000.

The sentences also have failed to meet the goal of eliminating racial 
disparities. In Kansas, 34 percent of people in jails and prisons are 
black, even though African-Americans make up only 5.7 percent of the 
state's population.

Part of this disparity is caused by the guidelines. For example, users of 
crack cocaine -- who tend to be minorities -- receive much, much harsher 
mandatory sentences than users of powder cocaine -- who tend to be white.

So what needs to happen?

Lawmakers should return some discretion to judges, so they don't have to 
send a first-time drug offender to prison for seven years just because she 
had two prior and unrelated misdemeanors -- which happened recently in 
Minnesota.

Lawmakers also need to review the guidelines to make sure they are fair 
(crack versus cocaine) and aren't excessively harsh. To its credit, a panel 
of Kansas lawmakers is meeting this fall to consider creating a drug court 
that emphasizes treatment, not just punishment.

Mandatory sentences need not be completely abandoned. But they do need more 
fairness, flexibility and common sense.

- --For the board, Phillip Brownlee
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MAP posted-by: Beth