Pubdate: Mon, 21 Jul 2003
Source: Baltimore Sun (MD)
Copyright: 2003 The Baltimore Sun, a Times Mirror Newspaper.
Contact:  http://www.sunspot.net/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/37
Authors: Tara Andrews and Vincent Schiraldi
Note: Tara Andrews is director of the Maryland Justice Coalition. Vincent 
Schiraldi is executive director of the Justice Policy Institute.

GOP LEADS THE WAY ON DRUG POLICY REFORM

WHEN TEXAS Gov. Rick Perry signed legislation last month to provide
treatment instead of incarceration for thousands of Texans convicted
of drug possession, he was in excellent company.

In fact, Republican governors around the country have taken the lead
in carefully and sensibly reforming criminal justice and drug
policies. Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. is in an excellent position to
join his colleagues in improving public safety and saving taxpayer's
dollars in the process.

Like so many Nixons going to China, Republican policy-makers are
rethinking prison expenditures for nonviolent and drug offenders and
changing public policy. In 2001 alone, there were prison closures in
six states: Florida, Ohio, Michigan, Illinois, Kansas and Utah, all of
which were governed by Republicans.

In December, Gov. John Engler signed a bill passed by Michigan's
Republican-controlled House and Senate to abolish most of his state's
mandatory sentencing laws for drug offenders. GOP Rep. Mike Kowall,
who chaired Michigan's Criminal Justice Committee at the time, said,
"Make no mistake about it: I have no problem with putting people in
jail. I consider myself to the right of Attila the Hun. This just gets
back to common-sense approaches to crime rather than just locking them
up and throwing away the key."

The Detroit Free Press estimates that the new law will save the state
$41 million in 2003 alone.

When Republican Gov. Mike Foster of Louisiana - the only state with a
higher incarceration rate than Texas' - signed legislation to return
sentencing discretion on nonviolent drug offenses to judges instead of
having those sentences mandated, he stated, "There's nothing worse
than having a state that is tops in incarceration. We went a long way
toward curing that."

Republican Gov. Bob Taft carefully "scrubbed" Ohio's prison population
through revised sentencing and parole guidelines by creating new
treatment programs and other alternatives to incarceration. While
prison populations in other Midwest states increased by nearly 4
percent between 1998 and 2000, Ohio's prison population declined by
nearly 6 percent, allowing the state to close two of its prisons and
save millions annually.

Governor Ehrlich can and should join ranks with this emerging trend.
In his State of the State address, Mr. Ehrlich said, "We must work
together to get nonviolent drug offenders out of jail and into
treatment programs, where they belong." Last month, he became the
first Republican governor to sign a law reducing penalties for the use
of marijuana for medical purposes.

Next session, Mr. Ehrlich needs to go further. He could start with his
pledge to do something about the 24 percent of state inmates
incarcerated for drug offenses by diverting low-end offenders into
treatment instead of incarceration, as Texas did, and by returning
sentencing discretion to judges, as Michigan did.

The governor could also direct his corrections department to reform
its parole system, as Ohio did. Thousands of inmates linger well past
their parole eligibility dates without even a hearing. Then, if parole
is granted, unnecessary delays in processing the actual release of
inmates costs the state millions with no added value.

By the governor's order, the department could restructure the system
so inmates could have hearings completed months before their parole
eligibility dates. Parole eligibility should also be advanced for
specific types of low-risk offenders (elderly inmates and women with
children).

As elsewhere, Maryland Republican leaders could mine the support of a
public that, across party affiliation, is disappointed with the war on
drugs and supportive of diverting nonviolent offenders into treatment
instead of prison.

In a poll conducted by Hart and Associates last year, three-quarters
of Americans approved of sentencing nonviolent offenders to probation
instead of imprisonment, and a substantial majority supported
eliminating mandatory sentencing laws and returning sentencing
discretion to judges.

Public opinion research undertaken in 1998 at the University of
Maryland's Survey Research Center found that nearly 60 percent
endorsed giving judges discretion in sentencing non-violent offenders.

The reason Republicans are taking the lead on drug policy reform is
not just because it saves money, although it does. It is because
putting appropriate, carefully selected offenders into treatment
instead of incarceration gets both tough and smart on crime. If they
can do it in Texas, we can do it in Maryland.
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MAP posted-by: Richard Lake