Pubdate: Mon, 01 Aug 2005
Source: Berkshire Eagle, The (Pittsfield, MA)
Copyright: 2005 New England Newspapers, Inc.
Contact:  http://www.berkshireeagle.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/897
Author: Alan Chartock
Note: Chartock, a Great Barrington resident, is president and CEO of WAMC 
Northeast Public  Radio
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?199 (Mandatory Minimum  Sentencing)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/youth.htm (Youth)

LAW AT FAULT, NOT CAPELESS

Here's what I think: State Rep. Smitty Pignatelli, D-Lenox, is absolutely 
right in his determination to do away with two-year mandatory sentences for 
selling small amounts of drugs. Pignatelli, who shows some real courage in 
calling for this legislative change, realizes that the answer is not to 
yell at District Attorney David Capeless, who is doing his job, but to 
change the law that Capeless is upholding.

With that said, it should be remembered that mandatory sentences are 
usually put in place for a couple of reasons. One of them is that, more 
often than not,  our judges are not doing their jobs and tend to allow 
people to walk away with  little more than a slap on the hand.

Another concern that I have always had is that we have a classic American 
tragedy where the sons and daughters of the middle class tend to get away 
with serious crimes, while the children of people of color are more likely 
to get much harsher punishments. Whatever law is passed will have to set 
some standards  and goals so that the seriousness of law-breaking is 
emphasized. I find myself in agreement with many of the letter writers to 
this paper who make the point that there has to be one law and one standard 
for everyone. I don't want to second-guess a court, but my bet is that what 
looks like a case of jury nullification might have been avoided if a few 
jury members in a recent  drug trial didn't think that a possible two-year 
sentence was too much. I can tell you that it is now a pleasure to walk 
through the Taconic parking lot and not be confronted by some very bad 
language, manners, insults and taunts. I can only hope that a law can be 
constructed that holds people who break the law accountable. I also hope 
that parents of young drug dealers pay a little more attention to what 
their kids are doing.

I am sick and tired of seeing drunken drivers use their automobiles to kill 
and maim, causing havoc among families and loved ones. This is one place 
where I  believe our laws are entirely too lenient. A guy with a gun in a 
grocery store  is often given more punishment than a repeat drunken driver. 
I have often wondered whether the lawmakers, some of whom have been known 
to bend their elbows a time or two, are more lenient with drunken drivers 
because  they are able to project themselves into the drunk's dilemma 
rather than that of  the grieving family of the victim.
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MAP posted-by: Beth