DRUG SENTENCING LAWS NEED REALITY ADJUSTMENT

The Legislature should enact sentencing changes in drug cases, as proposed
by state Rep. Bill McConico, D-Detroit ("Drug Sentences: Giving judges
discretion would improve justice," Dec. 3). The current laws, enacted in
1978 in an effort to lasso major drug kingpins, have not achieved their
goals. Instead, the 1978 legislation has resulted in prolonged, mandatory
prison sentences for drug addicts, and deprived circuit court judges from
exercising the sentencing discretion they have for all felonies other than
first-degree murder.

Our judges possess the experience and responsibility to tailor and impose
sentences on drug offenders that take into consideration an offender's
background, rehabilitation prospects, danger to the community and the
involvement in the drug transaction. McConico's bills should be enacted, for
the criminal justice system revolves on the skills and fairness of judges to
determine the appropriate punishment.

Steven Kaplan, Assistant Prosecuting Attorney, Macomb County

Mt. Clemens