CRIME IN CALIFORNIA: TAKING THE STERN APPROACH

To the Editor:

Re "California's Governor Plays Tough on Crime" (news article, May 23): The
marginal success of Gov. Gray Davis's zero tolerance crime policies
underscores the dangers of a government that cedes the power of discretion
in deference to public demand for law and order.

As crime in California, and all of the United States, continues at levels
that shock most of the industrialized world, one wonders how treating
14-year-old suspects as adults, requiring life sentences for minor felonies
and denying due process to prisoners can be justified.

Criminals can be punished without enacting the draconian, one-size-fits-all
policies that are gradually making the Unites States look more like the
Singapore that Mr. Davis evokes.

GARY R. WESTHOFF
Bronxville, N.Y., May 23, 2000

To the Editor:

It is a great disappointment when a politician like California's governor,
Gray Davis, capitalizes on public support for tough crime legislation to
further his own political ambitions (news article, May 23). Harsh criminal
justice measures may offer fast, visible improvements, but they also result
in distressing long-term consequences.

True solutions to today's criminal justice challenges lie in rehabilitative
programs that prepare those who go through the system to be productive
members of the society they will one day rejoin.

The public is drawn to policies that deny the complexities of real world
situations -- policies like the "three strikes" law and the Rockefeller
drug laws in New York. Mr. Davis is inoculating himself against criticism
from potential opponents by going along with this public sentiment. This
kind of passive opportunism may be a wise move in today's political
climate, but history will judge him harshly.

JACOB KOSKOFF Brooklyn, May 24, 2000