Pubdate: Wed, 12 Jan 2005
Source: Wall Street Journal (US)
Section: Page A11
Copyright: 2005 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
Contact:  http://www.wsj.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/487
Author: Michael G. Brautigam

SAD CRIMINAL WHO NEEDS HELP, NOT HARSH SENTENCE

As a former New York City prosecutor who was part of both the federal and 
state war on drugs during the golden age of crack cocaine in the late 1980s 
and early 1990s, I write to protest the federalization of common crimes and 
the inevitable resulting injustices ("Sentencing Shift: In Criminal Trials, 
Venue Is Crucial but Often Arbitrary," Dec. 30).

The case of the "bullet in the box" is simply bullying by a politically 
minded U.S. attorney with time on his hands. The poor victim, Dane A. 
Yirkovsky, meets no one's definition of a career criminal, but instead is a 
mope, a drug user or addict who did stupid things, apparently all 
nonviolent, while down on his luck. I'm not sympathetic to criminals, but 
my experience has shown me that the war on drugs is a war on ourselves, and 
Mr. Yirkovsky is Exhibit A.

What is really happening here is the targeting of "undesirables," by 
federalizing circumstances that will put them away for decades. This is 
simply unjust. When I was a prosecutor, we were continually reminded that 
we didn't work for any individual crime victim, but represented truth, 
justice and the American way. Our job was to do justice, not to extract 
retribution. Mr. Yirkovsky, who seemed to be getting his life together in 
small steps, should have been targeted -- for assistance with his addiction 
and problems that flowed directly from drug use, including his pathetic crimes.

Michael G. Brautigam

Cincinnati 
- ---
MAP posted-by: Beth