Pubdate: Wed, 12 Mar 2003 Source: Herald, The (WA) Copyright: 2003 The Daily Herald Co. Contact: http://www.heraldnet.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/190 Author: William C. Flanders DRUG SENTENCES Consequences Are Often Overlooked As a fellow member of the criminal justice system with 25 years experience, I could not help notice the errors in Judge Jim Murphy's opinion piece of Feb. 20 ("Drug sentencing structure is unfair, costs us too much"). Judge Murphy is a good and decent person who knows a lot about the law, but there is one law he is ignoring: the law of unintended consequences. The two examples Judge Murphy uses not only compare race, they also compare different crimes. He spoke about one law being a "strike" crime, but doesn't mention the strike crime law was an unintended consequence brought about by citizen initiative due to the unwillingness of judges to impose sufficient punishment on certain crimes. The uniform sentencing act, which provides stiff sentences for certain crimes, was an unintended consequence from legislators who also were frustrated with some judges. I remember the words I heard a judge tell a prosecutor who was asking for a long sentence for a repeat drug offender who was the single parent of two. The judge said, "There is something about this man that invokes sympathy from this court." A few weeks later, this man killed two people in a drug dispute. He's now in prison for life. I remember another judge who took sympathy on a single mother of two. A few weeks later, she was dead from a drug overdose. I'm certain these judges thought they were doing the right thing. They probably aren't even aware of the unintended consequences of their actions. The mistake they made was forgetting these are real people, with real problems, that require real action. They don't exist in the antiseptic world of statistics and courtroom arguments. Those of us in the criminal justice system do not have the luxury of doing what makes us "feel good," but we do have the duty and responsibility of doing what is best for the people we serve. WILLIAM C. FLANDERS Marysville - --- MAP posted-by: Richard Lake