Pubdate: Thu, 01 Jan 2009 Source: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (WI) Copyright: 2009 Journal Sentinel Inc. Contact: http://www.jsonline.com/news/editorials/submit.asp Website: http://www.jsonline.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/265 ALL ABOUT ALTERNATIVES Low-level drug dealers face some of the people they hurt and are given a final opportunity to turn their lives around and become productive citizens. A program designed to expose low-level drug offenders to the consequences of their actions - and turn their lives around - is a good alternative to simply filling jails and prisons with them. An article by Journal Sentinel reporter Annysa Johnson recently told how, through a special program, drug dealers came face to face with some of the people they hurt directly and indirectly. The contact is designed to appeal to offenders' emotions and to show them that their actions aren't the victimless crimes they might imagine. At a call-in organized by the Marquette University Restorative Justice Initiative, Milwaukee County District Attorney John Chisholm, in a north side gym, read the criminal complaints of the four men and one woman who participated in the program. Each faced possible imprisonment of 10 years. "You are being given a unique opportunity to walk away from this without a criminal record," Chisholm told the group. "But it's a last-chance deal. If you don't take advantage of this opportunity, we will prosecute." Five showed up last week at the call-in. The eight who participated in a first session in February have not re-offended. Five others who were invited to December's meeting didn't show up and will be arrested. Those who pledge to change are given help to do so from local social service agencies and drug and alcohol treatment facilities. The goal is to help them learn job skills or get into school, far better alternatives for those who can be redeemed. One woman participating said she was a mother of six. The Restorative Justice Initiative is modeled after a successful program that started in Boston in the 1990s to address low-level drug dealers. Restorative justice is a criminal justice approach based on reconciliation, healing and rehabilitation. The movement promotes humane and cost-effective alternatives to punishment and emphasizes relationships between people who live in a community. Through this lens, crime is seen less as an offense against the state as one against a victim or a community. Victimless crimes? In last week's call-in, a grandmother explained how she had to raise her grandchildren because her drug-addicted daughter could not. Chisholm told the offenders that life is about choices. He's right. Offenders, given workable alternatives and shown how their behavior can destroy themselves and others, can choose freedom over imprisonment. A community also can choose. It can simply repeat a cycle that dictates that those imprisoned are released to reoffend or it can fashion alternatives. Where appropriate, we like the alternatives a lot. Do you favor offering alternatives to prison for low-level offenders? To be considered for publication as a letter to the editor, e-mail your opinion to the Journal Sentinel editorial department. - --- MAP posted-by: Larry Seguin