Pubdate: Thu, 23 Mar 2006
Source: Berkshire Eagle, The (Pittsfield, MA)
Contact:  2006 New England Newspapers, Inc.
Website: http://www.berkshireeagle.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/897
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?199 (Mandatory Minimum Sentencing)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/pot.htm (Cannabis)

FOCUS ON REPEAL OF SENTENCING LAW

The latest case involving those arrested for selling drugs in a 2004 
Great Barrington drug sweep has resulted in a conviction, reviving a 
heated debate that has divided the Berkshires. Nineteen young people 
were arrested in the controversial sweep and District Attorney David 
F. Capeless is obviously determined to prosecute them, shrugging off 
the concerted opposition of the Concerned Citizens for Appropriate 
Justice and others. Given this reality, perhaps it is time for the 
CCAJ to shift its focus elsewhere. The drug cases have energized 
opponents because those on trial face conviction for selling drugs 
within a school zone, a charge that carries with it  a mandatory 
minimum two-year jail sentence.

That is the fate awaiting Mitchell Lawrence of Otis. The Eagle 
believes the punishment does not fit the crime here because those 
charged were not selling to school children.

The Taconic parking  lot happens to be within 1,000 feet of a 
downtown school, and if the intent of  the law was to protect school 
children than it is not applicable here. That said, with the latest 
case completed, the CCAJ, which has shown itself to be a 
well-organized and passionate neighborhood group, should consider 
making  a concerted effort to have the mandatory minimum sentence law 
repealed. State Representative "Smitty" Pignatelli of Lenox, who is 
Great Barrington's representative in the House, indicated last year 
that he would press for its repeal, and the CCAJ should lobby him to 
take that initiative. There is a great case to be made for its 
repeal, as the law ties the hands of judges, whose responsibility it 
is to use a scalpel not a sledgehammer when applying justice. In an 
ideal world, of course, drug use on the part of young people would be 
dramatically curtailed, reducing the market for dealers.

This can be accomplished to an extent through education, with the 
forum on drug and alcohol issues in the community attended by 
parents, youth group leaders and school administrators at Monument 
Mountain Regional High School Tuesday providing an example. Everyone 
in a community bears some responsibility for addressing the  drug 
problems within that community.

If drug problems can be nipped in the bud through counseling or 
something as simple as playing a school sport, than the drug trials 
that can tear apart a community will become fewer in number, if not a 
thing of the past.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom