Editorial: Let judges judge

The New Jersey Senate should support a bill that would ease some mandatory minimum drug sentences.

The measure would provide more leeway to consider other factors in each crime and save taxpayers money. Tough but ineffective drug-policy laws have swelled the nation's prison population and given judges little discretion in putting nonviolent drug offenders behind bars.

The bill due before the Senate Judiciary Committee in Trenton on Monday offers a more practical approach to the drug crisis, especially in a cash-strapped state with the highest proportion of nonviolent drug offenders in jail. The state Assembly passed a similar measure last year. Gov. Corzine has said he will sign the bill if the Senate passes it.

It would give judges the ability to waive or drastically reduce minimum sentences imposed in drug-free school-zone cases, which often result in disproportionate sentences for minorities in urban areas that are more likely to have zones that carry an added penalty.

Currently, judges' hands are unfairly tied by the Comprehensive Drug Reform Act, which has been on the books since 1986 and has been largely a disappointment.

The "one punishment fits all" policy allows for no exceptions. Anyone convicted of committing a drug crime within 1,000 feet of a school or school bus or within 500 feet of a park, library, museum, or other public facility automatically gets three additional years, regardless of the circumstances.

Statistics show that harsh stance has not deterred drug crimes near schools and has helped boost the state's annual corrections budget from $289 million to a staggering $1.3 billion.

According to the Drug Policy Alliance New Jersey, nearly one-third of the state's prison population committed nonviolent drug offenses, and 69 percent of all inmates are serving mandatory sentences.

Besides the hefty costs - $46,000 a year to incarcerate a single inmate - there is the human toll. Nonviolent offenders frequently have drug and addiction problems and need treatment and rehabilitation, not longer sentences.

U.S. Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. has called for new federal guidelines that would erase the gap in prison sentences for crack and powder cocaine crimes, a disparity that also hits minority defendants the hardest.

Under the New Jersey bill, judges could take into consideration the suspect's criminal record and other factors, such as whether the crime occurred when school was in session or students were present, which should warrant stiff punishment.

The mandatory three-year sentence would still apply for anyone arrested on school property or found with a firearm.

Changing the law to let judges tailor the punishment to fit the crime is a step in the right direction.