TIGHTER SENTENCING GETS OK

MONTGOMERY - The Alabama Sentencing Commission on Friday approved a
new sentencing structure for judges that could help reduce wide
disparities in criminal sentences and bring more equality to the court
system.

The guidelines narrow the current broad range of possible sentence
lengths. One to 10 years, for example, for certain drug felonies would
be tightened to a range of 13 to 65 months. The sentencing standards
direct judges to consider both the seriousness of the current offense,
as well as an offender's prior misdemeanor and felony convictions,
previous incarceration and juvenile delinquency. The standards are
voluntary for judges.

"It is not a radical departure from what we're doing, but it is a
departure," said retired circuit judge Joseph Colquitt, chairman of
the Sentencing Commission

The standards drop minimum possible sentence ranges for drug crimes by
30 percent, and minimum sentences for property crimes by 20 percent.
Sentence lengths for personal crimes such as murder, rape and robbery
remain about the same, said Chief Assistant Attorney General Rosa
Davis, who led the commission in developing the standards.

Sentencing experts studied 14,000 criminals sentenced over five years
to develop the standards. Davis lauded the standards for "trying to
bring equality and trying to bring sense," to Alabama's criminal code.

She credited the Vera Institute of Justice, impartial experts in
structured sentencing and sentencing reform, for assisting Alabama's
efforts.

The standards, known as sentencing guidelines in most states and
within the federal court system, provide worksheets and a point system
which help judges base sentences on what's happened historically in
Alabama with similar cases.

The standards are the centerpiece of the package of proposals to be
given to the Legislature this year by the Sentencing Commission, which
was established in 2000 to help reduce prison crowding and sentencing
disparities and bring truth-in-sentencing. If lawmakers approve the
standards, they would be adopted in October.

For one member of the commission, the proposal does not go far enough
to reduce disparities in the criminal justice system, and reform
Alabama's historically tough sentences that have more than quadrupled
the prison population in 25 years.

"When I came on this commission, I thought we were really going to
make an impact and start doing the right thing," said Jefferson County
District Court Judge Pete Johnson.

Instead, "We're sentencing people too long for offenses that are not
serious, and using that history to guide what we're going to do. And
it's bad history," he said.

Johnson runs Jefferson County's drug court, which tries to get drug
offenders into treatment and rehabilitation and not just lock them in
prison.

"They've made it better," he said of the standards. "But you could
have a case where someone embezzled $200,000 and has some prior
criminal history and would not go to prison, and then you could have
someone who's charged with (having) one Valium and because they were
foolish 20 years ago picked up three prior felonies and two
misdemeanors and it's mandatory prison under these guidelines,"
Johnson said.

Another judge on the commission, P.B. McLauchlin, presiding circuit
judge in Dale and Geneva counties, pointed out that the proposed
bottom range is lower than what judges historically have done.

Besides, "The public's got to buy into it," McLauchlin said. "We've
got to have a sentence that's credible."

Residents will lose faith in the system if they see a criminal with
several prior felonies who broke into their home in line at the
grocery store, he said.

Davis said sentencing experts who developed the standards believe they
will apply to about 75 percent of the sentences. She stressed that
they are voluntary for judges, and preserve a hefty amount of judicial
discretion.

That didn't satisfy Johnson.

"In our political situation in this state, there will still be judges
who will feel compelled within the range to give the maximum, and it
won't be the right thing to do," Johnson said. "They love to play on
the fear of the public."

He resigned from the commission after Friday's meeting.

"I haven't been very effective in convincing people to follow what I
think," Johnson said after resigning.