JUSTICE KENNEDY IS CORRECT TO PUSH FOR SENTENCING DISCRETION AND ALTERNATIVES

Supreme Court Justice Anthony M.  Kennedy has added his voice to those of the American Bar Association and the people in calling for alternatives to long prison terms. 

A commission of the Bar Association has issued a report urging that judges be given more discretion in handing down sentences and in urging that alternatives to incarceration be used for nonviolent crimes. 

Kennedy announced last week that he agrees with the proposal.  He noted that the nation's use of long prison terms means that "our resources are misspent, our punishments too severe, our sentences too long."

In fact, Dennis Archer, the Bar Association's president, pointed out that the 2.1 million people in American jails and prisons represent a quarter of the world's incarcerated population. 

The association and Kennedy are right.  Incarceration is expensive and often destroys the families of those sent to prison.  It should be reserved for violent felons. 

But mandatory sentencing guidelines often push judges to hand down long sentences for nonviolent offenders. 

Judges should be given more discretion to devise a sentence that fits the character of the offense and the circumstances of the offender. 

And states and the federal government should make more use of alternative sentences like house arrest and electronic monitoring and restitution.  These measures can restrict the freedom of nonviolent criminals and punish them while allowing them to keep their families intact and to work to pay for the cost of their own punishment. 

Placing more criminals in jail is stretching the ability of states to pay for prisons.  Prisons are overcrowded, and most states cannot afford to build new ones and maintain them. 

Politicians also should recognize that the political climate no longer demands that they adopt a lock-them-away attitude.  In the unscientific Voice of the Voter survey conducted by the Herald-Journal and NewsChannel 7, 77 percent of respondents stated they prefer that the state use alternative sentences for nonviolent offenders rather than spending more money on prisons. 

State and federal lawmakers should revise sentencing laws to make better use of public resources, reserving long prison terms for violent criminals.