In "No Angels Fill Those Cells," [Outlook, March 17], John J. DiIulio Jr.
attempts to justify the increase in prison populations. He neglects to
mention that the increase in the number of drug law violators behind bars
accounts for one-third of the increase in U.S. prison and jail populations
from 1980 to 1995. Drug law violators represented 8% (about 50,000) of the
total prison and jail population in 1980, and they now account for 25%,
about 400,000 out of a total 1.6 million inmates.

Mr. DiIulio writes that the vast majority of drug offenders in federal
prisons were convicted of drug trafficking, yet a much larger (and
increasing) percentage of state prisoners were convicted of possession.
They accounted for one-fourth of drug offenders in New York State prisons
in 1985 and one-third of today's prisoners. In addition, an executive
report from the Justice Department cautions that one-fifth of all federal
prisoners (almost 20,000 people) are "low-level drug offenders with little
or no criminal history." Two-thirds of these non-violent drug offenders
received mandatory sentences and 42 percent were couriers or played other
peripheral roles.

Yet a larger issue is the fact that drug prohibition and the illicit
economy it generates are responsible for many crimes committed by some drug
offenders. Drug-related crimes often stem from the violence involved in
drug dealing or the artificially high prices of drugs rather than from the
effects of the drugs themselves. Current drug policies serve only to
support this profitable market and the criminal activity associated with
it, much as alcohol Prohibition did in the 1920s.

Blame, of course, does not lie within the correctional system, but with
1980s legislation that lacked foresight. The leaner `90s call for more
practical solutions. We should eliminate excessive and costly penalties for
simple drug crimes and redirect efforts and funds towards reducing violent
and property crimes directly.

Phillip Coffin
Research Associate, Lindesmith Center
New York