TRUTH ABOUT SENTENCING

As Wisconsin prepares to implement an ill-thought-out and
irresponsible "truth in sentencing'' law, Dane County Circuit Judge
Angela Bartell is telling the truth about truth in sentencing.

The new law, which will be implemented Jan. 1 at immense cost to
taxpayers, takes away the ability of judges to use their judgment and
limits incentives such as parole that could be used to get prisoners
to make positive changes in their behaviors, says Bartell.

Speaking at a forum last week on criminal justice issues, Bartell -- a
22-year-veteran of the bench -- said, "I wonder about human motivation
and whether there isn't more we can do with it in our criminal justice
system.''

That's a good thing to be wondering about.

It's too bad that our legislators -- who still have the power to stop
the truth in sentencing experiment -- aren't expressing the same concerns.