Pubdate: Sat, 6 Sep 2008
Source: Wall Street Journal (US)
Page: A3
Copyright: 2008 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
Contact:  http://www.wsj.com/
Author: Gary Fields
Cited: Families Against Mandatory Minimums http://www.famm.org/
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/topic/Sentencing+Commission
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/prison.htm (Incarceration)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?159 (Drug Courts)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?199 (Mandatory Minimum Sentencing)

U.S. SENTENCING PANEL TO FOCUS ON ALTERNATIVES TO JAIL

WASHINGTON -- The panel that sets sentencing guidelines for federal 
courts plans to focus on developing alternatives to incarceration, 
setting up a possible clash with the Justice Department.

Exactly what the U.S. Sentencing Commission might recommend isn't 
clear. Possible models include bodies such as drug courts, which 
place offenders in treatment instead of prison. The panel's 
intention, which it mentioned in a filing in the Federal Register, 
could provide an impetus for cash-strapped states to follow suit.

Justice Department spokeswoman Laura Sweeney said the department is 
hopeful about the use of monitoring technologies and other 
strategies, but "we do not believe the use of alternatives should be 
expanded without further rigorous research showing their 
effectiveness in promoting public safety." The commission, created in 
1984, is made up of seven presidential appointees who are confirmed 
by the Senate Judiciary Committee. The panel promulgates sentencing 
recommendations that become law automatically unless Congress votes 
to reject them.

More than two million people are in prison in the U.S., including 
more than 200,000 in the federal system, both record highs. Prisons 
are responsible for some of the largest increases in state spending. 
According to National Association of State Budget Officers, states 
spent $44 billion in tax revenue on corrections last year, compared 
with $10.6 billion in 1987. The commission and Congress have been 
inching toward such a move in recent years. In 2007, a commission 
guideline eased sentences handed down to crack cocaine defendants; 
then, over the objections of the Justice Department, the commission 
made the change retroactive. Earlier this year, Congress passed the 
Second Chance Act, which focuses on helping prisoners successfully 
re-enter society. This summer, the commission hosted a two-day 
symposium on alternatives to prison.

"We're going to be looking at what might fit at the starting point, 
before somebody is sent to prison," said District Court Judge Ricardo 
Hinojosa, who is chairman of the commission. Mr. Hinojosa said the 
commission will likely proceed cautiously, with considerations of 
public safety being paramount. Advocates for the idea say the panel's 
planned consideration is a significant step. "If the commissioners 
are creating materials and making recommendations to Congress that we 
should expand alternatives to incarceration in the federal system, 
that will have a big impact," said Kara Gotsch, advocacy director for 
the Sentencing Project, a Washington research and advocacy group for 
criminal-justice policy.

Mary Price, general counsel of Families Against Mandatory Minimums, a 
Washington, D.C.-based sentencing advocacy group, said it became 
clear the commission was turning its attention this way when it 
hosted the symposium and brought in local, state and federal 
criminal-justice practitioners from across the country to talk about 
what they have been doing to ease prison overcrowding and cut 
correction expenses.

Michael Rushford, president of the Criminal Justice Legal Foundation, 
a California organization that focuses on crime victims, said the 
foundation thinks "alternatives are generally not a good idea and 
particularly for certain classes of criminals," such as felons and 
repeat offenders. Mr. Rushford said the criminal justice system tried 
to turn toward alternatives in the 1960s and "it took 30 years to dig 
our way out, and the morgues were full during that 30-year period. We 
don't need to repeat history to relearn this lesson."

Popular options discussed at the commission's symposium included drug 
courts now found in every state, which are used to divert drug 
offenders into treatment programs, community service and restitution 
centers. These centers allow low-risk offenders to live in 
residential settings while working to pay their fines and 
restitution, plus their room and board. Nationally, the political 
climate may be receptive to such a change. There has been little 
discussion of crime on the campaign trail, a place where candidates 
once vied to appear tougher than their opponents. Recent 
congressional hearings have focused on the economic and social costs 
of the nation's drug policies and juvenile-detention system. That's a 
far cry from just three years ago, when at least one bill was 
introduced that would have beefed up mandatory minimum penalties for 
drug crimes. 
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MAP posted-by: Richard Lake