DRUG COURTS: A BETTER MOUSETRAP?

Gov. Haley Barbour signed a bill into law earlier this year to
restore common sense to sentencing in the criminal courts - making
some 7,000 inmates eligible for parole by relaxing sentencing guidelines.

Senate Bill 2136 relaxed the state's so-called 85-percent rule,
passed in an ill-advised moment in 1994 when the Legislature took the
federal government's "get tough on crime" challenge and raised it.

The so-called "Truth in Sentencing" law was the result of a
nationwide push for tougher sentencing, and Mississippi lawmakers
responded. This newspaper supported the law. Famous last words: It
seemed like a good idea at the time.

Unfortunately, Mississippi overreacted, and the law worked too well.
Congress had told states to pass tougher laws to continue receiving
federal funds for prisons.

While the federal mandate was for violent criminals, Mississippi made
it for all offenders. Mississippi has been on a prison-building binge
ever since, trying to keep up with the ever-increasing number of
those incarcerated: mostly drug-related or nonviolent.

Lawmakers thought they had "solved" the crime problem. Thinking the
Parole Board would no longer be needed, they actually proposed
abolishing it in 2000 and transferring remaining duties to the
Department of Corrections.

But the 85-percent rule had other consequences. In 1995 - the year it
took effect - Mississippi housed about 12,400 inmates and had a
Corrections budget of about $119 million. There now are more than
22,000 inmates, with a $309 million budget.

Now Mississippi needs to take another step toward controlling the
spiraling costs of housing nonviolent, first-time offenders by
expanding the successful drug court programs that are operating in
several jurisdictions across the state.

DeSoto County Circuit Judge Bobby Chamberlin, a former state
legislator, makes a passionate case for drug courts in today's
Perspective section.

Chamberlin emphatically says "drug court works." His experience has
been echoed by other judges across the state as a more efficient and
effective means of dealing with drug crime.

Drug courts are not for repeat offenders or dope dealers. They aren't
for violent criminals. But they are a good alternative for offenders
who qualify to avoid expensive incarceration with hardened criminals.

As Chamberlin explains, drug courts aren't the easy way out for drug
criminals. Drug courts are a path to treatment and a meaningful
second chance.

It makes sense - and dollars and cents - to shift "tough" on crime to
smart on crime. Drug courts must increasingly become part of the
solution to prison crowding and ineffective drug treatment in this
state.