JUDGES' LAX SENTENCING OF DRUG DEALERS LEAVES A MESS IN OUR COMMUNITIES

Re: Most sentences from judges bang on, Ian Mulgrew, March 27

Ian Mulgrew writes of a gulf between the reality of how judges
sentence criminals and the public's perception of what sentences are
handed down. On the contrary, I think the discrepancy is between what
judges perceive and the reality that their sentencing policies let
down our communities.

Since moving to Commercial Drive four years ago, I have seen the same
five or six drug dealers selling crack, heroin and crystal meth on
the same two-block stretch day after day. When the police manage to
arrest these chronic offenders they rarely if ever get jail time and
we are likely to see them back at work within days. The result is
that our neighbourhood must deal with the syringes, condoms and
thievery that goes hand in hand with street-level drug trafficking
and our justice system becomes overburdened dealing with the same
offenders over and over again.

Troy Wolfe

Vancouver