ATTORNEY GENERAL ANSWERS

QUESTION: Have we gone too far, or not far enough, in imposing lengthy, and
mandatory, sentences for many offenses?

DEMOCRAT

Terry Goddard of Phoenix, attorney, former Phoenix mayor and state director
of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Some mandatory sentences are necessary. They make a clear statement that
certain crimes are so serious perpetrators will be held strictly
accountable. They give prosecutors an important weapon. However, mandated
penalties should be imposed very selectively, and Arizona has gone too far.

We have seen soaring prison costs and significant trial backlogs due, in
large part, to the increased number of mandatory sentence crimes. In
addition to straining the state's budget, this means crime victims often
wait years for resolution. This year, struggling with the high cost of
prisons, the Legislature came close to making the serious mistake of
releasing many inmates early. In addition, a mandated penalty sometimes
causes overly harsh results. Similar crimes can involve dramatically
different motivations and consequences. In non- mandatory sentence cases,
judges can sort out the factors and determine a just punishment. The
Legislature should carefully consider reducing the number of mandated
sentences, especially for so called "victimless" crimes.

REPUBLICANS

Foster Robberson of Scottsdale, attorney, senior partner at Phoenix- based
Lewis and Roca.

Sentencing guidelines are useful by reducing the opportunity for different
outcomes just because cases are in the hands of different judges. Severe
sentences are appropriate for violent criminals like murderers, child
molesters and child pornographers - who, in some ways, are worse than
molesters because they molest for profit.

Drug use is not necessarily a "victimless crime." At any calendar call in
any criminal division in our Superior Court, most defendants - whether
charged with burglary, reckless endangerment or whatever - have substance
abuse as the root cause of their criminal behavior. Drug court is an
effective way to deal with many of these offenders. Proposition 302 will
help reinvigorate drug courts by permitting incarceration of drug offenders
who refuse to comply with court ordered treatment. It will give drug court
judges a stick, as well as a carrot, to help early offenders before it is
too late.

Andrew Thomas of Phoenix, attorney, former assistant attorney general and
chief attorney for the Department of Corrections.

Mandatory sentences are necessary to make sure certain serious offenders,
such as child molesters, are punished sufficiently and not let off with
easy plea bargains. As for drugs, I do not believe drug use is a victimless
crime. Drugs dull our minds and corrode our conscience. We must do more to
attack the drug problem on the demand side. In particular, we should offer
more faith-based drug treatment programs for first-time drug offenders. The
success rate for secular programs is approximately 10 percent; for
faith-based programs, the rate is over 80 percent. Finally, we must stand
firm against the activist federal judges who've begun to declare these
faith-based programs unconstitutional. They're not. In the same year the
U.S. Constitution was adopted in Philadelphia, the Quakers opened in the
same city America's first prison, the Walnut Street Jail, an explicitly
faith-based facility.

John Greene of Phoenix, attorney for the firm of Hahn, Howard and Greene,
and former state Senate president.

As the ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, and then as Senate
president, I pushed for tougher criminal laws, including mandatory
sentences for serious crimes, such as murder, rape and crimes against children.

However, strict mandatory sentencing is less appropriate for some lesser
crimes committed by non-dangerous, first-time youthful offenders. In those
cases, judges should have discretion to determine what the appropriate
punishment should be, based on the facts of each case. There is no such
thing as a victimless crime. The drug industry targets the weak in our
society, particularly the young and disadvantaged who often resort to more
serious crimes to pay for their habits. The illegal drug trade also
finances terrorists and other criminal syndicates. For practical reasons,
the focus of any punishment for non-dangerous, first-time youthful drug
offenders should be rehabilitation. The punishment for those who sell drugs
should be harsh.

LIBERTARIAN

Ed Kahn of Tucson, attorney, former candidate for mayor of Tucson.

We've gone too far. As a Libertarian, I'm absolutely opposed to mandatory
sentences. Every individual accused of a crime is entitled to be treated
and sentenced based on the individual circumstances of the offense.

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