Baltimore Sun:
More rational senten...
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Editorial: More rational sentencing
The Baltimore Sun
January 9, 2006
Low-level, nonviolent drug offenders in Maryland are often imprisoned when they would be better off in treatment, and they are often locked up for longer periods than those who commit more violent crimes. Such disparities are costly - to the state and to the offenders - and ought to be addressed more aggressively by the state's Commission on Criminal Sentencing Policy, which meets today.
Created by the General Assembly in 1999, the commission establishes sentencing guidelines for serious criminal cases that are handled in the state's circuit courts where jury trials are held. The guidelines offer ranges of punishment based on the offense and the defendant's criminal history. While voluntary, they can set a framework for sentences as well as for plea bargains. When it comes to drug offenses, however, the guidelines need work.
The commission is supposed to identify defendants who would be appropriate for optional programs, but drug treatment advocates, including some judges, point out that the guidelines suggest some harsher penalties for drug offenders than for violent offenders such as robbers or those who commit assaults. There also aren't sufficient distinctions between big-time drug dealers and minor players who are selling just to satisfy their habit.
As a result, many drug users end up in prison, at a cost of about $20,000 a year, when they would be better off in treatment, which could cost less than half as much. Alternatively, while the guidelines might call for a first-time nonviolent drug offender to receive a sentence of six months to three years, plea agreements reached by the prosecution, defense and judge - which happen more frequently in Baltimore - are often more lenient and might include treatment or other options to encourage an addict to change.
The commission needs to acknowledge more fully the value of these kinds of agreements and reduce the suggested penalties for drug offenders who are users rather than major dealers, putting more of them in treatment rather than behind bars. Loosening the guidelines for these offenders would be healthier for them and for the goal of promoting more rational and proportional sentencing around the state.
Copyright C 2006, The Baltimore Sun
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