DRUG ARRESTS UP, CRIME NOT DOWN

12-county study finds that arresting low-level drug users has not led to
significant decreases in other crimes

The war on drugs is not helping in the fight against crime, according to a
study released today.

The number of arrests for drug possession in California has skyrocketed in
the past 20 years, but that has not led to significant decreases in other
crimes, according to the survey.

The study, by the Justice Policy Institute, a liberal think tank based in
San Francisco, examined the 12 largest counties in the state. It concludes
that counties that focused on drug selling and manufacturing generally
lowered their property crime rates more than counties that focused on "lower
level drug users."

"The study is suggesting that there really isn't any positive impact of
putting these low-level offenders in jail," said Elliott Currie, a
criminologist at UC-Berkeley who is on the Institute's advisory board.

In the study's terms, Contra Costa County rates as a success. It has the
lowest rate of drug arrests and imprisonments of the 12 counties studied.
And its rates for other crimes are lower than or near the statewide rates.

"Generally, Contra Costa has had more success, with an average decline in
violent and property offenses," said Mike Males, co-author of the study and
an institute senior researcher.

The county is below the state rate for violent crimes, such as rape, robbery
and murder. It has a slightly higher rate than the state as a whole for
property crimes like theft, burglary and arson.

The much more urban Alameda County bucks the trend in the other counties,
Males said. It has higher than average violent and property crime rates, but
one of the lowest drug imprisonment rates, according to the study.

The county ranks third among the 12 counties in total drug arrests. And just
like Contra Costa, authorities arrest more people for felony drug violations
than for misdemeanors.

No one with a first or second drug offense and no charges for other crimes
goes to prison, said Alameda District Attorney Tom Orloff.

Those users are sent to drug court, where judges have the discretion to
mandate treatment or impose a jail sentence, he said.

Contra Costa also supports treatment for low-level offenders, said Contra
Costa District Attorney Gary Yancey.

What to do with low-level offenders is more than fodder for academic
studies. Under a controversial November ballot measure, Proposition 36,
those convicted of being under the influence of or possessing illegal drugs
for personal use would face probation and up to 18 months of mandatory drug
treatment. Those convicted of a previous violent felony within five years of
the drug offense, or those convicted of selling or manufacturing drugs would
not be eligible.

Proponents say incarceration isn't working and drug addiction needs to be
treated as a disease, not a crime.

But opponents of the initiative, including Yancey and Orloff, maintain that
the proposition decriminalizes drug use and takes away judges' enforcement
powers.

"There's no worry about jail or prison time," Yancey said.

Contra Costa County currently has the lowest number of total drug arrests
per 100,000 people of any county studied. And fewer people end up in prison
for drug possession than for more serious felony drug crimes, according to
the study.

"We vigorously pursue all drug cases that are brought in to us for filing,"
Yancey said. "My philosophy is simple. The simple possession people should
get treatment programs, until they show no progress or commit other crimes.
The dealers should go to prison."

Drawing conclusions by linking violent and property crime rates to
small-time drug offenses is difficult, Orloff said.

"A lot of the people who are dealing are involved in violence over their
territory or turf," he said. "But a lot of the people who are just users,
they commit crimes to fund themselves, or they commit crimes while they're
on (drugs)."

Males maintains that concentrating on selling and manufacturing drugs has
had the greatest effect on other crime rates. The Justice Policy Institute
is a program of the Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice, a private,
non-profit organization that works for alternatives to incarceration.

"We should reverse our policy of prosecuting low-level offenses," he said.

Each of the counties studied differs in how its police and prosecutors
approach the drug offender problem, he said.

Included in the institute's study were Alameda, Contra Costa, San Francisco,
Santa Clara, Sacramento, Fresno, Los Angeles, San Bernardino, Ventura,
Riverside, Orange and San Diego counties.