MINNESOTA DRUG LAWS: ARE THEY TOO HARSH?

Momentum Gathers For Review Of Sentencing Rules

Minnesota's drug laws might be too harsh and the state should consider
reducing prison terms for users and small-time dealers, a powerful
sentencing commission contends.

The provocative stance from the Minnesota Sentencing Guidelines
Commission would have been improbable a decade ago, when politicians
and prosecutors often spoke about zero tolerance and a "war on drugs."

But the idea of reforming drug laws, including the possibility of
reducing recommended sentences for certain offenses, has been gaining
traction among lawmakers, judges and prosecutors.

The sentencing commission put forward a proposal that would cut
recommended sentences on some drug offenses nearly in half.
First-degree offenders convicted for the first time could see
recommended sentences reduced from seven years to four years.

A bill that passed the state Senate last month includes a provision
ordering a drug-sentencing study. The review would be done next year
and could include new sentencing guidelines that would automatically
take effect unless lawmakers act to block them.

Backers of a review said the state must examine whether the lengthy
prison terms for drug offenses recommended under current sentencing
guidelines are fair, effective and worth the cost. Drug offenders
represent an increasing percentage of the state's prison population.

"We've got too many drug folks in prison," said Hennepin County
Attorney Mike Freeman. "We need to do something about it. We need to
have an enlightened dialogue that includes treatment."

Dakota County Attorney James Backstrom said he would oppose lighter
sentences. He said violent crime and other problems stemming from drug
use and dealing can "overwhelm communities."

"Lengthy prison sentences for our most serious drug offenders is
reflective of the seriousness of the problem and is necessary to
assure that violent drug offenders and profiteers are appropriately
held accountable," Backstrom said.

Minnesota and other states got tough on drug users and dealers in the
late 1980s as part of a national war on drugs. Minnesota targeted
crack cocaine first, with lawmakers boosting sentences and making
those caught with even small amounts of the drug eligible for the most
serious charges.

Isabel Gomez, the sentencing commission's executive director and a
former Hennepin County judge, said she witnessed from the bench the
problems that prompted the crackdown on drugs. Drug-related murders
and "crack babies" shocked lawmakers and the community, she said.

"There were so many experts at the time talking about how pernicious
crack was, just like the methamphetamine discussion now," Gomez said.
"It wasn't hysterical, because what was happening to real people in
our community was appalling."

In 1991, the Minnesota Supreme Court concluded that low thresholds for
crack cocaine offenses unfairly targeted blacks and declared them
unconstitutional. In response, lawmakers lowered the threshold for all
street drugs.

The state's prison population has been on the rise ever since, with
drug offenders helping fuel the increase. In 1990, about 10 percent of
inmates were drug offenders. In 2006, nearly a quarter of inmates were
serving sentences for drug offenses.

A sentencing commission report completed in January raises questions
about the effectiveness and costs of the drug laws. Each prisoner
costs the state an average of nearly $30,000. The state would save
about $2 million in 2008 if the commission's recommended guidelines
were in effect, the report states. That figure would grow as drug
offenders who receive the new, shorter sentences get released, the
report states.

"This is a rational discussion about an area of law that appears ripe
for change," Gomez said.

The report points out that prosecutors and judges already are
sidestepping guidelines in a majority of drug cases. More than
one-third of convicted drug addicts who should get state prison time
get lesser jail terms instead and one-third of those who actually go
to prison serve less time than recommended, the report shows.

The high number of reduced terms, known as "departures," defeats the
purpose of the guidelines, opening up the justice system to sentences
that vary by race, geography or other unfair factors, Gomez said.

"The departures may also suggest that Minnesota law does not
adequately identify the most serious offenders and fails to
distinguish between them and less culpable individuals," the report
states.

Minnesota's drug sentences are often as steep as penalties for violent
crimes.

"The prison term for a first-degree drug conviction - possession of 1
ounce of cocaine or meth - is seven years. That's also what one would
serve for criminal vehicular homicide," said state public defender
John Stuart, who supports the law change. "You are talking about a
dead person versus someone holding a bag of white power, and not a
very big bag."

Stiff penalties have been getting more attention as drug crimes shift
from cocaine in big cities to methamphetamine in suburban and rural
areas. That shift has given the drug war a broader reach, Gomez said.

Before meth, many Minnesotans "didn't know anyone's kids being sent to
prison," Gomez said.

"Methamphetamine makes it easier for people to be thoughtful," she
said. "It's impacted so many white, middle-class, working-class people."

Freeman said that the state should consider sentencing rules that help
distinguish addicts from hard-core dealers but that prosecutors must
continue to be "tireless" when going after sellers with guns.

Ramsey County Attorney Susan Gaertner expressed similar
sentiments.

"I don't want to lower first- and second-degree drug sentences," she
said. "They could be changed to be more targeted at dealers and other
drug offenders who do pose a significant public safety risk."

Gaertner said she's concerned that drug offenders represent a quarter
of the prison population, but she said policymakers need to keep in
mind the big picture.

"The irony of this discussion about how we're too tough on these cases
compared to others is that we have one of the lowest incarceration
rates in the country," Gaertner said. "We shouldn't be part of a
downward trend in sentencing when we are already at the bottom."