DON'T BLAME JUDGES

Tom Barberi and Laurie Wilson's opinion column complaining about the lack
of common sense in the judiciary misses the real problem. Over the past
decade, our state and federal legislatures have taken much of the
discretion to interpret the law and make the punishment fit the crime away
from our judges in the name of fighting crime.

Conservatives, particularly, think judicial discretion is a bad thing and
leads to "judicial activism." Instead, we get poorly drafted laws such as
the one cited by Barberi and Wilson in the Idaho case where the man driving
after smoking marijuana wasn't convicted of DUI because marijuana was not
listed in the statute (by the legislature). Had the judge read the statute
to include marijuana, he would have become a "judicial activist." That
judge pointed out an apparent flaw in the law for the legislature to fix,
not the judge.

Similarly, the extradition case is one that arguably should not have been
brought. That is an issue of prosecutorial discretion. A prosecutor can
decide whether to prosecute or not. I don't think you can blame it on the
judge who has to hear the case before him pursuant to the laws which guide
the process.

We have a serious problem in this country with legislatures wanting to hem
in the judges and take away their discretion to "do the right thing" under
the specific facts of the case. You can't limit a judge's discretion
regarding sentencing and then expect the judge to make the punishment fit
the crime.

SHARON EBLEN, Salt Lake City