CRIME POLICY

Re: "Politicking Is the Big Enemy on Anti-Drug Battleground," editorial,
Oct. 6: If you read academic and scientific journals on the criminal
justice system, you'll realize that most of our criminal justice policy is
based on "politicking" rather than on "science." However, the problem isn't
with just the politicians, but also the criminologists.

Most criminologists simply sit in their ivory towers writing to themselves
and think it's beneath them to push the results of their studies into the
mainstream (or say they don't have time to write for the mainstream). In
addition, criminologists don't want to make waves against politicians
because they receive most of their grant money from them.

The result: We have a criminal justice system based on emotions rather than
reason.

DOUGLAS W. KIESO
Irvine