Pubdate: Mon, 29 Mar 1999
Source: San Jose Mercury News (CA)
Copyright: 1999 Mercury Center
Contact:  http://www.sjmercury.com/
Author: Joanne Jacobs

PRISONS ARE BULGING WITH NON-VIOLENT OFFENDERS

MOHAMMED Haroon Ali, 19, kidnapped his former girlfriend at knife point,
beat her unconscious and threatened to kill her.

He served 12 months in jail, and did another six months for flunking two
drug tests while on probation.

Less than four years later, Ali was charged with murdering another
girlfriend, Tracey Biletnikoff. Her body was found at CaF1ada College in
Redwood City last month.

Andre Terial Wilks, 19, broke a car window and stole a cell phone. He's
serving a sentence of 25 years to life. With two convictions for
purse-snatching, Wilks was prosecuted under the three-strikes law after he
refused a deal that included a seven-year prison term.

More than a million Americans are serving hard time for non-violent crimes,
according to a study by the Justice Policy Institute, which opposes
mandatory minimum drug sentences. By the group's estimate, nearly
two-thirds of 1.8 million inmates ``were imprisoned for offenses which
involved neither harm nor the threat of harm to a victim.''

Since 1985, the number of inmates in local jails and state and federal
prisons has more than doubled due to longer mandatory sentences that judges
can't modify, three strikes provisions and ``truth in sentencing'' laws
that require prisoners to serve almost all of their sentences.

Non-violent offenders, especially drug offenders, make up an ever larger
share of the prison population. More than half of state prisoners and 88
percent of federal prisoners were not sentenced for crimes of violence,
according to the report.

Congress passed mandatory minimum sentencing rules in 1986; the greatest
effect has been on drug offenders charged in federal court. Judges can't
consider mitigating factors, only the amount of drugs involved. Prosecutors
can reduce the charge for dealers who implicate others, which means the
``kingpin'' can make a deal and serve less time than the small fry who has
nothing to trade.

In 10 years, the number of drug offenders behind bars quadrupled, and the
federal prison budget grew tenfold.

States also have gotten tougher, and less flexible. California's prison
budget rose by 60 percent over 10 years.

Once most state prisoners were violent criminals. As of 1997, only 42
percent of state prisoners were locked up for violence, 27 percent for drug
offenses.

Californians voted for ``three strikes and you're out'' after ex-con
Richard Allen Davis kidnapped and murdered Polly Klaas. But a ``strike''
doesn't have to be a violent crime; the third strike can be just about
anything. Two-thirds of second and third strikes are property and drug
crimes, the Justice Policy Institute reports.

Crime is down statewide, but counties where prosecutors have used the
three-strikes law most aggressively haven't shown a sharper decline than
counties where the district attorney uses more discretion.

The Justice Policy Institute is a liberal group. So listen to the
conservatives.

In a 1994 Wall Street Journal column, headlined ``Let 'em rot,'' Princeton
professor John J. DiIulio Jr. argued that the way to cut crime is to set
long, inflexible prison terms.

In a March 12, 1999, Wall Street Journal column, ``Two million prisoners
are enough,'' DiIulio advocated repeal of mandatory minimum drug sentences,
the release of drug offenders and mandatory treatment instead of prison. He
urged more money and attention on supervising parolees and people on
probation in their communities, and urged Congress to revise federal
sentencing guidelines and stop making a federal case out of local crimes.

DiIulio believes that ``let 'em rot'' contributed to the declining crime
rate, but concludes, ``The nation has maxed out on the public safety value
of incarceration.''

Punishments no longer fit the crime, ``especially where drug offenders are
concerned,'' DiIulio writes. In New York, and several other states, at
least a quarter of recent prison admissions are low-level non-violent drug
offenders.

Even Barry McCaffrey, national drug policy director, concedes, ``We can't
incarcerate our way out of this problem'' without bankrupting ourselves. He
calls for more drug treatment for first-time offenders.

As a powerful Democratic congressman from Illinois, Dan Rostenkowski voted
for mandatory minimum sentences for drug possession. Then he served a
15-month prison term for corruption, and met minor drug offenders who were
doing 15 to 20 years. In a speech last year, Rostenkowski said, ``I was
swept along by the rhetoric about getting tough on crime. Frankly, I lacked
both expertise and perspective on these issues. So I deferred to my
colleagues who had stronger opinions but little more expertise.''

Congress is still playing politics with drug policy. A Senate bill dubbed
the Drug Free Century Act would require a five-year federal minimum
sentence for possession of 50 grams of cocaine, down from 500 grams. 

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