DEBATE IN DISTRICT ATTORNEY RACE SHOULD TACKLE WAR ON DRUGS

Why isn't there greater discussion in the District Attorney race about
the war on drugs and drug prosecution policies?

The war on drugs is generally waged on the small time players and
people with limited resources. In drug related prosecutions the
District Attorney has tremendous discretion to consider diversion from
prosecution and to encourage drug treatment in lieu of a felony
conviction or imprisonment.

The "war on drugs" has resulted in a doubling of prison populations
and many families being torn apart. In Wisconsin, tax money that might
go to education now goes into the prison system. The United States
leads all western nations in the rate at which we imprison our population.

One can hardly ignore the racial bias that contributes to an incarceration
rate of African Americans that exceeds the rate of their admission to
college. A recent New York based Human Rights Watch study found that
Wisconsin ranked second among 37 states studied for prosecuting many more
blacks than whites for drug offenses. (Wisconsin: 689 black imprisoned for
every 100,000 blacks in the population, National: 482 of every 100,000
blacks).

Yet, Wisconsin lags behind the national average for the rate at which we
incarcerate white people (Wisconsin: 13 whites imprisoned for every 100,000
whites in the population, National: 36 of every 100,000 whites).

Wisconsin's number 2 ranking means that we incarcerate 53 blacks for
every white incarcerated . Illinois, at the dubious number one spot,
imprisons 57 blacks for every white.

Dane county has contributed significantly to these statistics. From
1995 to 1997 Dane County increased its arrests for marijuana
possession by 91.81%, placing Dane County 5th in the overall rate of
increase for such arrests for all counties in the United States with a
population of over 250,000.1 Milwaukee county's increase was 15.51%,
placing them 54th overall.

The District Attorney's office receives federal money for the purpose
of bringing drug prosecutions. It is fair to ask whether this money is
influencing the manner in which the District Attorney exercises his
tremendous discretion whether or not to seek alternatives to
prosecution and incarceration.

Our District Attorney should not let federal drug prosecution money
dictate local policies. Only Democratic candidate David Karpe
addresses this issue on his web site (www.karpe4da.com). A look at
Democratic candidate Brian Blanchard's web site (www.brianblanchard.net)
reveals absolutely no discussion of the issue.

There is no more compelling issue this year than how the Dane County
District Attorney intends to address these shameful statistics.