STATES DRUG LAWS NEVER ACHIEVED INTENDED GOAL

Re: "Drug laws under review'' (April 9): It is true, as the State District
Attorneys Association points out, that in 1997 only 60 drug offenders were
sentenced to the harshest prison terms, a maximum sentence of life. However,
there are now over 600 people in prison serving these draconian sentences -- a
small number of whom actually deserve such long sentences.

Yet, after trial, judges have no choice but to impose these sentences
under our mandatory imprisonment laws. If convicted, the same offender
who may have been offered a pretrial plea requiring a minimum of three
years in prison, now faces a minimum of at least 15 years in prison.

Something is very wrong with a justice system where a district
attorney indicates that three years is enough prison time for an
offender today, but where a 15-year sentence must be served if that
same person chooses to go to trial and is convicted.

The convicted offender's criminal background, the role played in the
transaction, or life circumstances cannot even be considered, since
the trial judge has no choice but to impose that sentence.

It is not just those who sell or possess the most drugs who must serve
long prison sentences. In fact, there are now over 22,000 inmates
locked up in New York state prisons for drug crimes, many serving
maximum sentences of at least five years, far too long for the minor
role that the vast majority play in the drug trade and who are readily
replaced. So many of these offenders are drug addicts who would
benefit far more by a mandatory residential drug treatment program.
Society would benefit too by reduced recidivism and costs well below
the $30,000 a year that taxpayers spend to keep thousands of
nonviolent drug offenders locked up.

Until the drug laws are reformed to give judges the option, after
consultation with the district attorney, to impose alternative
sanctions, including drug treatment, New York state will continue on
its failed drug law course. As a supporter of these drug laws when
they were enacted 26 years ago, I can safely say that the sad reality
is that they have not achieved their goal -- to drive the drug dealers
from our streets.

New York state can no longer afford to unnecessarily send thousands of
low-level drug offenders to prison. Our drug laws must be
significantly reformed now.

JOHN R. DUNNE
Albany

The writer is former assistant attorney general under President Bush
and now heads the Campaign for Effective Criminal Justice