ALTER APPROACH TO SENTENCING

For two years, John Bell has sat in the Wayne State Prison in Odum, mostly
idle, costing Georgia taxpayers nearly $20,000 a year for his
incarceration. He is serving a 10-year sentence for drug possession with
intent to distribute.

A Navy veteran with a good work history, Bell might have been working and
contributing taxes rather than costing the taxpayers for his upkeep. If
Georgia were more progressive about alternative sentencing, he might have
been in a diversion center, working during the day and reporting in at night.

Like thousands of other nonviolent drug offenders, Bell doesn't need to be
behind bars in a medium-or maximum-security facility. He hasn't raped or
robbed, murdered or maimed.

But, over the years, Georgia legislators have found little campaign fodder
in measured, rational criminal justice policies.

So few pass up the opportunity to demagogue on crime, to denounce
lawbreakers (as if voters support crime) and to pledge swift -- and
preferably harsh -- justice. In 1990, according to a poll by The Atlanta
Journal-Constitution, a majority of legislators said they would send
first-time drug offenders to prison, even if they had to raise taxes to do it.

Now, for the first time, the General Assembly could be tested on that
pledge. Faced with a budget deficit that could run as high as $1 billion
next year, Gov. Sonny Perdue has already sworn off a tax increase. Not to
be outdone, Lt. Gov. Mark Taylor rushed to join him on the no-new-taxes
bandwagon. So did several other prominent legislative leaders.

Meanwhile, the bill for "tough on crime" policies -- put in place when
state coffers were overflowing -- is getting bigger and bigger. In 1993,
the Department of Corrections spent about $500 million. This year, the
department is expected to spend nearly $1 billion. For the first time in
its history, Georgia incarcerated more than 50,000 people this year, with
thousands more waiting in county jails for a prison bed to become available.

The fastest-growing parts of the state budget during the last decade were
education and prisons. Could this be a good time for the Georgia General
Assembly to reconsider its commitment to tough justice?

Faced with budget deficits and overcrowded prisons, several other states
have started alternative sentencing programs for nonviolent offenders,
including diversion and detention centers and "day report" centers, where
offenders with multiple needs -- from remedial education to drug counseling
- -- are offered a solid shot at rehabilitation. Here in Georgia, a
Governor's Commission on Certainty in Sentencing has recommended similar
reforms.

The state would not save money in the short term; providing therapy and
intensive supervision for drug-addled felons will cost millions, too. But
nonviolent offenders given a chance at a clean start are far less likely to
return to crime and be sent to prison again, producing savings in the long
run. In addition, they are more likely to become productive citizens --
holding down jobs and supporting their families -- which is a wholesale
benefit.

Despite the common sense behind the proposals, the commission's plans have
not received Perdue's enthusiastic endorsement. That's partly because the
commission was appointed by his predecessor, Roy Barnes. Perdue has gone
out of his way to distance himself from anything Barnes supported -- good
ideas along with bad ones.

But the commission's recommendations have also been caricatured as the
fuzzy thinking of misguided reformers who want to put hardened thugs back
on the streets. That's dead wrong. The commission is careful to separate
nonviolent offenders from violent ones; its recommendations would actually
leave violent criminals in prison longer, in some cases.

The sentencing guidelines would also allow men like Bell to reconnect with
their wives and children sooner -- a move that would shore up families.
That carries no downside.

Cynthia Tucker is the editorial page editor. Her column appears Sundays and
Wednesdays.