UNFAIR SENTENCING LAWS

To the Editor:

Re "Clemency and Unjust Drug Laws" (editorial, Jan. 31): When Gov. George
E. Pataki granted clemency to four women serving long state prison
sentences for drug-law violations in December, he took into account factors
that sentencing judges may not consider under current New York State law -
a defendant's history, character, degree of actual criminality and, in the
case of an addict, the likelihood of rehabilitation.

Many of the nonviolent offenders in New York's prisons are drug addicts who
pose little or no threat to public safety. Reforming the state's drug laws
and restoring to judges their traditional role of sentencing discretion
would still allow judges to sentence drug offenders to long prison terms
when appropriate. They would also have the option to sentence people to
alternatives like drug treatment, at far lower cost to the state.

John R. Dunne, Albany, Jan. 31, 2000

The writer is director of the Campaign for Effective Criminal Justice.