Pubdate: Tue, 20 Feb 2001
Source: Seattle Times (WA)
Copyright: 2001 The Seattle Times Company
Contact:  P.O. Box 70, Seattle, WA   98111
Fax: (206) 382-6760
Website: http://www.seattletimes.com/
Author: Ralph Thomas

A CALL FOR SHORTER DRUG SENTENCES

OLYMPIA - Despite a call from key law-enforcement officials to ease 
Washington's drug laws, some conservative legislators said yesterday 
they will fight such efforts.

"I'm not willing to go there," said Sen. Pam Roach, R-Auburn. "I 
think this is the wrong direction."

King County Prosecutor Norm Maleng and others involved in the state's 
criminal-justice system converged on Olympia yesterday to support 
legislation that would reduce sentences for some drug offenses and 
use the savings in prison expenses to expand local drug-treatment 
programs.

In separate hearings, Maleng told Senate and House members the state 
has benefited from the tough anti-drug laws that were passed during 
the late 1980s. But he said not enough emphasis was placed on 
treating drug offenders.

"It is time to move our drug policy in a new direction ... to go back 
and renew a commitment to treatment," Maleng said.

Maleng has proposed chopping six months off the 21- to 27-month 
minimum sentence for making or delivering cocaine or heroin. The plan 
would save an estimated $50 million in prison costs over the next six 
years - money that would be used to boost local treatment programs.

Washington's prison chief, two judges and an official from the 
state's Sentencing Guidelines Commission also spoke in favor of the 
bill.

And lawmakers heard some new findings about the effectiveness of drug 
treatment at reducing crime.

After reviewing 71 drug-treatment studies conducted nationwide over 
the past two decades, the Washington State Institute for Public 
Policy recently concluded treatment programs can reduce "criminal 
recidivism rates" by 3 percent to 9 percent. The institute concluded 
states can save $2 for every $1 spent on effective treatment programs.

Still, Roach called Maleng's approach an "expensive gamble."

"Why do we want to send them back onto the street six months sooner?" 
Roach said after Maleng's appearance before the Senate Judiciary 
Committee. "That means they're back out there, back in our homes, 
stealing things to support their habit."

The legislation also faces opposition from some House Republicans.

"This is clearly the first step toward legalizing these terrible 
drugs," said Rep. Jack Cairnes, R-Renton. "I just think it's wrong."

Some, however, blasted Maleng for not going far enough. Some want to 
cut a full year off the drug sentences. Others favor going as far as 
California did last fall, when voters overwhelmingly approved a 
measure that requires treatment instead of incarceration for first- 
and second-time drug offenders.

Gerard Sheehan, lobbyist for the American Civil Liberties Union of 
Washington, said Maleng's approach still relies too heavily on 
incarceration and would not free up enough money for treatment. He 
told lawmakers that his organization, which has backing from 
investment billionaire George Soros, will try to block the bill.

Rob Killian, a Seattle doctor who sponsored the 1998 initiative that 
legalized marijuana for medical use, said lawmakers will face a 
citizen initiative like California's if they do not approve more 
significant reforms than those Maleng proposes.

Senate Judiciary Chairman Adam Kline said he is "very open to going 
further" than Maleng in reducing sentences but is not sure such a 
plan would find enough support in the Legislature.

"Long sentences do not, do not deter crimes," said Kline, D-Seattle. 
"And in no cases do they deter less than when the crime is driven by 
a need, like drugs."

But Maleng said his proposal was a bottom line for him and others in 
law enforcement.

"We should not go farther than that," he said.
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MAP posted-by: Josh Sutcliffe