Pubdate: Wed, 24 Sep 2014
Source: Chicago Sun-Times (IL)
Copyright: 2014 Sun-Times Media, LLC
Contact: http://mapinc.org/url/5QwXAJWY
Website: http://www.suntimes.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/81
Page: 26

GO EASIER ON PETTY DRUG OFFENDERS

Does anybody really believe in this day and age that somebody 
deserves jail or prison time for getting caught with, say, a small 
amount of pot?

Arresting and prosecuting low-level drug offenders is a waste of 
time. So say cops and assistant state's attorneys, who should know.

On Tuesday, Mayor Rahm Emanuel rightly joined a growing call to 
decriminalize marijuana statewide and reduce penalties for small 
amounts of other controlled substances. As the mayor said in a press 
release, "It is time to put our sentencing policies in line with our 
values [and] reduce penalties for nonviolent, low-level drug offenses 
so we don't put people in prison who need drug treatment."

To which we can only say: Amen.

This is a long-overdue reform. It will save money. It will save lives 
from being ruined for small mistakes. Does anybody really believe in 
this day and age that somebody deserves jail or prison time for 
getting caught with, say, a small amount of pot?

The Chicago Police arrest 7,000 people every year for possession of a 
gram or less of a controlled substance. The city estimates the police 
have devoted nearly 275,000 hours of work to such cases over the past 
five years, time that could be spent going after more serious crime. 
And it's safe to say cops all across the state are doing the same.

Emanuel also said Tuesday the city has fixed a policy that gives cops 
the option to write tickets instead of arresting such petty 
offenders. At first, suspects had to have an acceptable ID, such as a 
driver's license, to be eligible for the ticket option, but too many 
people didn't have one, so they were arrested instead.

In practice, we've already moved away from throwing lowlevel drug 
offenders into the penitentiary. Diversion programs, such as deferred 
prosecution and allowing convictions to be erased once probation is 
completed, provide alternatives. But some low-level offenders sit in 
jail awaiting trial because bond is set higher than they can pay. 
Others are returned to prison because being caught with a small 
amount of drugs can constitute a probation violation. In many cases, 
it should not.

Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle has been pushing this 
smart reform for years and also supports raising the threshold for 
felony theft to $1,000 from $500. That makes good sense, too. As a 
practical matter, prosecutors usually reduce thefts between $500 and 
$1,000 to misdemeanors anyway, but it should be made official policy.

If Mayor Emanuel is serious about getting the state Legislature to 
reduce penalties for low-level drug offenses, he'll have to lobby it 
hard and use his bully pulpit to bring around skeptical Downstate 
prosecutors and elected officials. This is just the sort of worthy 
reform that often dies in Springfield because legislators fear being 
labeled as soft on crime.

The Legislature also must take care not to undermine counties and 
communities outside of Chicago that have instituted reforms that go 
further than the mayor is proposing.

Ideally, drug-sentencing reform would be enacted without tying it to 
other issues, but that's not how all officials see it. Last month, 
Cook County State's Attorney Anita Alvarez testified before the Joint 
Criminal Justice Reform Committee in support of lowering penalties 
for low-level drug crimes and thefts, but she wants to tether that to 
requiring repeat gun offenders to serve at least 85 percent of their sentences.

That would hardly be a balanced trade-off. An analysis last spring by 
the Illinois Sentencing Policy Advisory Council estimated the total 
cost of raising mandatory minimums for gun crimes at $116 million 
over three years, while reducing penalties for low-level drug crimes 
would save only $23 million to $26 million.

Meanwhile, a survey of studies on the topic last year by the Bluhm 
Legal Clinic at Northwestern concluded mandatory minimums don't 
reduce gun violence, and in fact, are costly and counterproductive.

State. Rep. Kelly Cassidy, D-Chicago, says some version of mandatory 
minimums may be necessary to get a bill through the Legislature. If 
that's the political reality, we would hope the new mandatory 
minimums are narrowly targeted, as Cassidy suggests, aimed at only 
the most serious gun offenders.

Let's make the best use of our police and prosecutors - and our 
prison cells - to go after serious crime.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom