Pubdate: Fri, 02 May 2014
Source: Sacramento Bee (CA)
Copyright: 2014 The Sacramento Bee
Contact: http://mapinc.org/url/0n4cG7L1
Website: http://www.sacbee.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/376
Author: Thomas G. Hoffman
Note: Thomas G. Hoffman, a former deputy police chief in West 
Sacramento and former director of the state Division of Adult Parole 
Operations, is an executive fellow at the Police Foundation in Washington, D.C.

LOCKING UP NONVIOLENT DRUG OFFENDERS FOR LONG TERMS DOESN'T MAKE US SAFER

The U.S. Department of Justice recently announced that thousands of 
federal prisoners serving long sentences for drug offenses can apply 
for presidential clemency - the latest step by the Obama 
administration to ease the impact of what it sees as outdated laws 
that locked up too many people for too long for nonviolent offenses.

California should pay attention  and revisit its own laws. The White 
House's decision affects people in federal prisons, not those in our 
state prisons and jails, and California is still under federal court 
order to reduce crowding in its prisons. Meanwhile, many California 
county jails are overcrowded, often with people accused or convicted 
of drug and other nonviolent offenses.

That's because over the last 20 years, more than 1,000 amendments 
were made to California's Penal Code, most lengthening sentences. 
Some addressed horrific crimes, but many have resulted in sharply 
longer terms for nonviolent offenses, very often drug offenses.

California is experiencing its lowest crime rates since the 1960s, 
yet we spend far more now on our prisons and incarcerate far more 
people per capita than any country in world. Despite this strategy, 6 
in 10 state prisoners return within three years of release. Something 
must change.

In my 33 years in California law enforcement, including deputy police 
chief in West Sacramento and director of the state's Adult Parole 
Division, I fundamentally came to see two types of people we punish 
for crimes. There's a small number we're afraid of - so dangerous 
that society must be protected from them. But there's a much larger 
population of those we are simply mad at.

The problem is that for decades the criminal justice system has 
treated both groups the same way, mandating long terms for conviction 
of a specified crime, regardless of the risk the individual actually 
represents to the community. If we want to reduce recidivism and 
continue to reduce crime, we have to change our thinking about the 
root causes of crime and the people who commit them.

We must realize that massive, across-the-board incarceration may 
simply postpone future crimes if behavior change is not the focus, 
especially if mental illness or addiction are underlying factors.

Former inmates will tell you that prisons - where the same gangs and 
crime rings found on the street operate on the inside - serve as 
schools for criminals. Add this to the stigma of being a convicted 
felon - making it harder for them to find work or housing - and we 
create the very problem we are aiming to solve.

The billions of dollars we spend to warehouse nonviolent offenders 
drains resources from programs that can actually change behavior, 
such as substance abuse and mental health treatment, crime prevention 
programs, job training, education and innovative policing initiatives.

Unfortunately, crime and punishment is highly political; anyone who 
raises these ideas can be labeled as soft on crime. But the real 
question is whether we are being smart on crime.

Californians don't think so. In July 2013, Californians for Safety 
and Justice asked 1,600 voters which problems in our justice system 
were the most important to address. Tied for first were "too much 
money spent on prisons" and "incarceration is used for too many 
nonserious, nonviolent offenses."

The Justice Department's move reflects both public opinion and a 
growing body of research. California should start a rational 
discussion about what we're trying to accomplish with our own justice 
system. I believe that discussion will lead to the need to not only 
revamp drug laws but also reclassify other nonviolent offenses 
currently bringing a felony label and prison sentence.

We must protect our communities from the people we're afraid of, but 
we can't continue wasting limited space and resources on people we're 
simply mad at.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom