RENO PROPOSES RESTRUCTURING LOCAL COURTS

Attorney General Janet Reno, condemning the failure of current
criminal-justice policies, called Tuesday for a potentially radical
restructuring of local court systems across the United States to prevent
convicts from shuttling in and out of prisons ``again and again and again.''
Reno's trial balloon would essentially create special courts establishing
judges as glorified parole officers -- empowered to oversee inmates'
re-entry into society and shepherd their rehabilitation through work,
education and community programs, aides said.

``Let's give our courts, our judges what it takes to do justice, what it
takes to solve the human problems that bring the cases before them,'' the
attorney general said in unveiling the proposal at the annual meeting of the
American Bar Association in Atlanta.

The idea, modeled after drug courts in Miami, Los Angeles and other cities,
seeks to swing the pendulum of criminal policy back toward rehabilitation
after a 25-year focus on tougher punishment, aides to Reno said.