UNOPPOSED INCUMBENT HAS MISSION

NEW HAVEN - Democratic state Rep. John Martinez, who is running
unopposed for a third term, feels "a sense of mission" in continuing
his work on alternatives to prison sentences for non-violent offenders.

Martinez, 44, an Arch Street resident whose 95th House District
includes the Hill, Wooster Square and parts of Grand Avenue and State
Street, was profoundly affected by his work with drug addicts when he
was project director for the Hill Health Center/Grant Street
Partnership. He doesn't think such people belong in prison.

Martinez' first major piece of legislation was creating a drug court,
now based at the Elm Street courthouse in New Haven, to steer
non-violent drug offenders toward treatment programs and counseling
rather than prisons. A second such court subsequently began operating
in Bridgeport.

Encouraged by the drug court's success in combating overcrowding in
prisons, Martinez then introduced a bill to open a community court in
Hartford to handle defendants charged with misdemeanors, such as
prostitution.

After it opens and proves its worth, he feels similar community courts
will be created in New Haven and elsewhere.

Although he believes we should remain tough on violent criminals,
Martinez said he wants all of the state's courts to be more "consumer
friendly." "The community at large should not be afraid of entering a
courthouse," he noted.

During the next legislative session, Martinez will take on other legal
issues, such as crafting a bill that would prohibit "profiling" by
local police departments. The town of Trumbull recently came under
fire when a police department memo surfaced instructing patrolmen to
be on the lookout for people who did not fit that town's "profile,"
which is overwhelmingly white.

Martinez would also like to amend mandatory sentencing laws, which he
said have tied judges' hands. He said greater flexibility would allow
non-violent drug users to be placed in drug treatment centers rather
than in prisons.

Martinez hopes his legal initiatives will have the overall effect of
reducing the disproportionately high percentage of African-Americans
and Hispanics in prison. He said 73 percent of Connecticut's prison
inmates are people of color.

"I believe the system can be changed," said Martinez, who is the son
of a Pentecostal minister. "But my style is not to confront people.
Show them the problem, sit down with them and try to come up with a
solution."

Checked-by: Patrick Henry