DETERRENT VALUE OVERRATED

As a policy analyst for Common Sense for Drug Policy, I'm writing in
response to the Dec. 17 editorial, "Solid sentences." Mandatory
minimum prison sentences have done little other than give the land of
the free the highest incarceration rate in the world. The deterrent
value of tough drug laws is grossly overrated.

During the crack epidemic of the '80s, New York City chose the zero
tolerance approach, opting to arrest and prosecute as many offenders
as possible. Meanwhile, Washington, D.C., Mayor Marion Barry was
smoking crack and America's capital had the highest per capita murder
rate in the country. Yet crack use declined in both cities
simultaneously.

The decline was not due to a slick anti-drug advertising campaign or
the passage of mandatory minimum sentencing laws. Simply put, the
younger generation saw firsthand what crack was doing to their older
siblings and decided for themselves that crack was bad news.

This is not to say nothing can be done about hard drugs like crack or
methamphetamine, the latest headline grabber. Access to substance
abuse treatment is critical. Diverting resources away from prisons and
into cost-effective treatment would save both tax dollars and lives.

The U.S. Department of Justice research brief confirms the spontaneous
decline of crack cocaine at www.ncjrs.org/txtfiles1/nij/187490.txt

Robert Sharpe