TRUDE HAS RIGHT RX

Kudos to the Herald-Leader and reporter Bill Estep for the newspaper's most
recent follow-up to its "Prescription for Pain" series.

The series, surely a future award winner, examined drug abuse in Eastern
Kentucky. As before, Estep's task was to expose Lee County Circuit Judge
William Trude as an example of how soft-on-crime judges have contributed to
the drug problem.

Estep's latest story again put the ace investigative reporter's byline on
the front page. And why not? Estep quoted no less a luminary than state
attorney general-wannabe Greg Stumbo faulting Trude for occasionally
granting defendants' probation over prosecutors' objection.

If elected, Stumbo said, he would push to limit judicial discretion.

The problem goes beyond Trude's courtroom, though, so the story went. To
quote: "Over the past 12 years, the number of convicted criminals released
early from state prisons or county jails under shock probation has roughly
doubled."

What does it all mean? It means that Trude's purportedly lenient sentencing
practices are merely part of a wider trend.

The "spare the rod, spoil the druggy" approach may win votes, but Stumbo
and his fellow candidates should consider the more enlightened approach
that Trude has adopted.

Recently Trude joined his circuit with Kentucky's drug courts program. Drug
courts favor court-monitored substance abuse treatment over more costly
incarceration. The evidence suggests that the program works. Less drug
abuse means less crime.

Certainly Kentucky's future top prosecutor should support that. So should
the Herald-Leader. What Trude is doing is a prescription for progress.

Bruce Franciscy Winchester