JUDGE: DRUG POLICY UNFAIR TO MINORITIES

BOSTON - One of Massachusetts' top judges denounced the state's
sentencing laws yesterday, saying that the mandatory two-year sentence
for drug possession near schools discriminates against minorities,
does not deter crime and decreases faith in the judicial system.

Robert A. Mulligan, who became the chief justice for administration
and management in October 2003, said that 90 percent of the people who
receive the mandatory sentences for possessing drugs within 1,000 feet
of the school are minorities.

"I'm not saying that minorities are being targeted, and I'm not saying
that the arresting officers are unfair, but I'm saying that the policy
itself is not wise," Mulligan told the Associated Press. "The policy
has a discriminatory effect."

The 1989 law, passed at the urging of then-Gov. Michael Dukakis, has
had the greatest impact in urban settings, Mulligan said, because
there are few areas in any Massachusetts cities that are not within
1,000 feet of a school.

"The purpose behind school zones is to keep drugs away from schools
and that's a legitimate purpose," Mulligan said. "But school doesn't
have to be in session, it can be at night, it can be during the
summer. So it doesn't really achieve its goals."

The cumulative effect, Mulligan said, is that "it really increases
skepticism in the fairness of the system."

Gerry Stewart, of the Suffolk District Attorney's office, said the law
is written the way it is for a reason.

"The law has a wide scope in its intent to protect children of all
ages," said Stewart, who is Suffolk's second assistant district
attorney. "The police are certainly targeting drug-dealers where they
find them, regardless of ethnicity."