END THE ROCKEFELLER LAWS? VIGOROUS YEAS AND NAYS

Messrs. McCaffrey and Rosenthal have short memories or they never jogged in
Central Park or rode the subway in the 1970s and '80s. Back then, the city
was loaded with drug users preying on innocent victims to feed their
habits. They miss the simple point that with fewer drug addicts on the
streets, we now have only a fraction of the violent crime that we used to
have. Taking them off the street for more time equals less crime. Treatment
programs have a high failure rate. Drug users can stay off drugs long
enough to get out of halfway house programs, but they get high again as
soon as they can. They turn back to crime. Longer sentences are the prime
reason for lower crime rates in New York City.

Jack Stillwaggon, Huntington, N.Y.