WOULD-BE ATTORNEY GENERAL PROMOTES ALTERNATIVES FOR SOME DRUG OFFENDERS

State Sen. Mike Beebe outlined Monday the top priorities he'd pursue as
attorney general, including alternative sentencing for first-time
nonviolent drug offenders and an emphasis on affirming lower-court criminal
convictions.

He discussed his priorities in response to questions from members of the
University of Arkansas at Little Rock William H. Bowen School of Law
chapter of the Young Democrats.

Beebe, 55, of Searcy, a Democrat, is the only candidate for attorney
general. He has been a state senator for two decades.

He said that "because of my peculiar relationship with the Legislature,
unlike probably any AG we've ever had" he thinks he "can be a little bolder
on some issues" that the attorney general ought to take a lead on.

On prisons, Beebe said, "We can't continue to build our way out of the
criminal justice system. We can't continue to warehouse people for the sake
of warehousing people, because, one, we can't afford it. Two, it's
counter-productive, and, three, there are better ways to do it."

Beebe said he doesn't "back up one iota" from his commitment to convict and
punish violent offenders, but it makes sense to divert first-time
nonviolent drug offenders from prison. This would free scarce prison space
for more violent offenders and offer real hope of rehabilitating nonviolent
offenders, he said.

"First-time nonviolent drug users need to have other criminal sanctions
besides just warehousing," Beebe said, saying that recidivism rates are low
in cases in which drug courts impose alternative sentencing such as
community service, fines and random drug testing on offenders who agree to
plea guilty.

"If you do the drugs, you don't go through another trial -- you've already
been convicted -- you can always send them to Cummins or to Tucker," he
said, referring to two state prisons.

"Faced with the prospect and the possibility they have been caught, they
are in trouble, they are going to jail, it turns a lot of them around,"
Beebe said. Using drug courts for these offenders represents "a more
appropriate" punishment for the crime than jail time, he said.

In response to a question on the state's continual backlog in payments to
county jails for housing state prisoners, Beebe said lawmakers and the
governor must do a better job of prioritizing funds for this.

Most Arkansans don't realize that the attorney general's office is in
charge of handling all appeals of criminal convictions to the state
appellate courts. Exemplary work by police and prosecutors leading to a
criminal conviction is all for naught unless the state persuades higher
courts to affirm that conviction, Beebe said.

"If the AG's office doesn't devote sufficient resources, sufficient
personnel and sufficient time to the appellate process, then all that
work's out of the window," he said.

Beebe said his comments were in no way a negative reflection on incumbent
Attorney General Mark Pryor, the Democratic nominee for the U.S. Senate.

Feedback from prosecutors has been uniformly positive about Pryor's
appellate record, Beebe said.

"Having said that, not only would I not de-emphasize that, I would build on
it," Beebe said.

Beebe also said he'd stress consumer protection as attorney general, and
urged the law students once they enter the profession to partner their
legal practice with public service. "To do less is to dishonor and betray
something that's been given to you that not many other people have -- the
best education imaginable," he said.