SUPREME COURT JUSTICE WANTS GUIDELINES REVISED

San Francisco --- Saying federal prison terms are too long, U.S. Supreme
Court Justice Anthony Kennedy on Saturday called for an end to mandatory
minimum sentences.

"I can accept neither the necessity nor the wisdom of federal mandatory
minimum sentences," Kennedy said in prepared remarks for a speech at a
lawyers' convention. "In too many cases, mandatory minimum sentences are
unwise and unjust."

He also called for a revision of federal sentencing guidelines, which
judges frequently follow in cases when there is no mandatory sentence length.

"Our resources are misspent, our punishments too severe, our sentences too
long," Kennedy said. "The federal sentencing guidelines should be revised
downward."

Kennedy, an appointee of President Ronald Reagan, gave his unusually
pointed remarks before the American Bar Association's annual meeting here.

The justice said he has supported the sentencing guidelines, which are
required to be considered by federal judges in courtrooms nationwide.

The guidelines have served their purpose of eliminating widely disparate
sentences handed down to criminals in similar situations but also are
partly responsible for a general lengthening of prison terms, Kennedy said,
noting this increase comes at a time when it costs more per year to house
an inmate than it does to educate a child.

Kennedy's remarks came only days after a disclosure that the U.S. Justice
Department will begin compiling records of federal judges who give lighter
sentences than those called for under the guidelines.

As for the mandatory minimums, Kennedy said although they have been upheld
as constitutional by the courts, that does not mean they are justified.

"Few misconceptions about government are more mischievous than the idea
that a policy is sound simply because a court finds it permissible,"
Kennedy said. "A court decision does not excuse the political branches or
the public from the responsibility for unjust laws."

Kennedy cited the case of a young man found to have just over 5 grams of
crack ******* after being stopped by U.S. park police on a federal parkway
near Washington.

The defendant was indicted in federal court and faces a mandatory minimum
sentence of five years in prison.

"If he had taken an exit and left the federal land, his sentence likely
would have been measured in months, not years," Kennedy said.

As it stands now, Kennedy said, federal mandatory minimum sentences can be
mitigated only if prosecutors decide not to charge certain counts in an
indictment.

"In my view, a transfer of sentencing discretion from a judge to an
assistant U.S. attorney, often not much older than the defendant, is
misguided," Kennedy said.

"The trial judge is the one actor in the system most experienced with
exercising discretion in a transparent, open and reasoned way. Most of the
sentencing discretion should be with the judge, not the prosecutors."

Kennedy urged the 410,000-member legal group to lobby Congress to change
the sentencing guidelines.

Kennedy also called for more pardons at both the state and federal levels
to lessen harsh sentences.

"The pardon process, of late, seems to have been drained of its moral
force," Kennedy said. "A people confident in its laws and institutions
should not be ashamed of mercy."

Atlanta criminal defense lawyer Don Samuel applauded Kennedy's remarks.

"The whole theory behind the mandatory minimums is that no one trusts the
judges," he said.

"But the idea of a congressman thousands of miles away in Washington
knowing the appropriate sentence for someone, as opposed to a judge right
there in the courtroom who knows all the details of the defendant, is just
ludicrous."



Pubdate: Sun, 10 Aug 2003
Source: Atlanta Journal-Constitution (GA)
Webpage:
http://www.ajc.com/sunday/content/epaper/editions/sunday/news_f3535d37747651da002a.html
Copyright: 2003 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution