SENTENCING RULES CAN'T BE RUSHED

As a former co-chair of the Commission on Certainty in Sentencing, I must
respond to a recent editorial ("Perdue must steer passage of sentencing
guidelines," @issue, June 18).

First, the commission was established by Gov. Roy Barnes to study
sentencing and render a final report. That report was issued in December
2002. The commission was automatically abolished as a matter of law with
the change of administrations.

Gov. Sonny Perdue had an early interest in the recommendations, however,
and began probing into how some of them could be implemented immediately.

Consensus is building that sentencing guidelines could ease prison
overcrowding over time. Moreover, the options for sentencing (transition
centers, supervised probation, drug and alcohol treatment centers) are
expected to transition many inmates into society where they will work and
live as law-abiding citizens.

Perdue's approach is judicious, contemplative and filled with the careful
coordination that must take place before the guidelines can be implemented.

ROBERT E. KELLER

Keller is district attorney of the Clayton Judicial Circuit.