SCALES OF JUSTICE NEED LEVELING: STATE LAWMAKERS SHOULD FURTHER
REFORM MANDATORY DRUG SENTENCES

Judges should be able to weigh more than a criminal's drug stash in
handing down sentences. Unfortunately, Michigan's mandatory prison
law for drug offenders allows no such leeway from the bench.

Some reforms have already been made to these mandatory minimum
sentences, but state legislators -- now engaged in a shameful flurry
of lame-duck lawmaking -- should take another run at the subject when
they reconvene in January.

Currently, Michigan has some of the harshest drug penalties in the
country. Sweeping legislation in 1978 short circuited judicial
discretion. The only factor judges now use in determining sentences
is the amount of cocaine or heroin involved in the crime. The worst
of these 1978 strictures, the 650 Lifer Law, made sure that anyone
convicted of delivering or intending to deliver 650 grams (about 1.4
pounds) of cocaine or heroin would rot in jail without parole.

That get-tough measure was appropriately aimed at drug kingpins.
Instead, it ended up trapping minor players. In 1998, lawmakers
revised the law to make prisoners eligible for parole after 20 years,
but the revisions left mandatory minimums in place for lesser amounts
of drugs. That's where legislators should now turn their attention.

For instance, a criminal caught with as little as 50 grams of cocaine
or heroin must serve a minimum of 10 years unless a judge finds
"substantial and compelling" reason to go below that minimum. A 1987
law further tied judges' hands. In cases of convictions on multiple
drug charges, judges must sentence offenders to serve their time
consecutively, piling sentence upon sentence, rather than
concurrently.

Even where violent crimes are concerned, the law allows judges other
considerations, including criminal history and the particulars of the
case. Not so with drug crimes. A man who repeatedly robs liquor
stores shouldn't receive more flexible treatment from the law than a
first-time drug offender who made a stupid mistake.

The results of these draconian measures? Michigan continues a
prison-building surge, and drug offenders are at least part of the
reason. In 1983, drug offenders were 4 percent of Michigan's prison
population. Now, they're over 12 percent. Over the last 20 years, the
Department of Corrections' budget has ballooned as a percentage of
state spending. And there's no indication we're locking up the
biggest players in the drug trade. Those individuals often can trade
good information for lesser charges.

True, there are ways around these harsh laws. Kent County Prosecutor
William Forsyth sometimes reduces criminal charges just so offenders
don't face long prison sentences. Mr. Forsyth's restraint is
commendable, but such decisions should be in the hands of judges who
have heard all the evidence, not prosecutors who risk being labeled
soft on crime by political opponents. Judges also can depart from the
minimums using the "substantial and compelling" standard, but that
language remains open to challenge and is routinely appealed.

There is a growing consensus that at least some drug offenders would
benefit from rehabilitation and probation instead of time behind
bars. The first person to benefit from the reform of the 650 Lifer
Law is a case in point. JeDonna Young of Detroit was sentenced to
life behind bars in 1978 after police caught her and her boyfriend
with three pounds of heroin. A first-time offender, Ms. Young always
maintained she didn't know about the drugs. Her boyfriend
corroborated her story, but the law required the judge to put her
away for life.

Last year, she was the first person released from prison in the wake
of the lifer law reform. A week from Saturday, Ms. Young will receive
a master's degree in social work from the University of Michigan. She
plans to work with children whose parents are behind bars.

Her story is a hopeful sign for a society wrestling with the
complexities of the drug problem, and one Michigan lawmakers should
heed.