Pubdate: Fri, 02 Feb 2007
Source: Los Angeles Times (CA)
Copyright: 2007 Los Angeles Times
Contact:  http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/front/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/248
Author: Peter Y. Hong, Times Staff Writer
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?246 (Policing - United States)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/prison.htm (Incarceration)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/rehab.htm (Treatment)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/prop36.htm (Substance Abuse and Crime 
Prevention Act)

DEFENSE LAWYERS PROTEST SKID ROW DRUG CRACKDOWN

Attorneys Say Petty Offenders Are Getting Prison Time. LAPD Says Aim 
Is to Help Those Trying to Quit Using Drugs.

Defense attorneys are protesting a drug crackdown on skid row, saying 
petty narcotics users are increasingly being sent to prison instead 
of receiving treatment that could cure their addictions.

Since September, police and prosecutors have targeted drug dealing in 
the 5th Street corridor -- an area bordered by 4th and 6th streets, 
Broadway and Central Avenue -- which police said was a hotspot of drug crimes.

Though law enforcement officials have hailed the effort, defense 
lawyers say it is harming some who need help.

"They're basically cleaning out skid row by putting people into state 
prison, where there really isn't room ... either," said Deputy Public 
Defender Lisa Lichtenstein, who handles numerous downtown drug cases.

She said that since the fall, minor drug cases that in the past might 
have resulted in possession charges that could lead to treatment have 
been prosecuted as drug sales, which can result in prison sentences 
for those convicted.

In many cases, Lichtenstein said, the drug sales charges are against 
addicts selling a small amount to pay for their own habit. "These are 
very small amounts of drugs, 10 dollars' worth, maybe $20," she said.

Prosecutors and police say they are indeed becoming more aggressive 
against skid row drug offenders.

But Janet Moore, director of central operations for the district 
attorney's office, said the tougher stance is aimed at ending a 
"revolving door" for drug addicts with prior convictions.

"We're not targeting the homeless," she said.

Lt. Paul Vernon, LAPD spokesman, acknowledged that, as part of the 
department's recent emphasis on skid row, stiffer penalties are being sought.

"We want to create an atmosphere for downtown -- for skid row -- for 
people who go there for recovery purposes," he said, "so they can get 
recovery without being confronted by people selling drugs.

"Of all places in city where penalties should be stiff," he added, 
"it's down there -- to make sure the people selling drugs there are 
kept out as much as possible, so that the people who are trying to 
get off drugs have a chance to."

Robert De Carteret, a prosecutor who handles many drug cases 
downtown, said that in the past, drug offenses were not prosecuted as 
aggressively downtown as elsewhere. "We've moved the line to maybe 
where it should have been all along," he said. 
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