CAUTION ON DRUG REFORM

To the Editor:

John R. Dunne (Op-Ed, May 10) calls for a return to judicial sentencing
discretion, decries the effect of the Rockefeller drug laws on "minority"
communities, and expresses dismay at district attorneys for opposing
reform. This overlooks the fact that even under the present law, judges
retain considerable sentencing discretion.

Surely greater judicial discretion cannot increase drug treatment, which
district attorneys, who are more attuned to community wishes than judges,
use extensively. In the Bronx, we sent 2,600 defendants into treatment
programs in the last two years.

Most disingenuous is the assumption that our poorest communities are in no
danger whatsoever from any proposed reforms.

In the Bronx, law-abiding residents often contact me to demand greater
prosecution of drug sellers. They correctly regard narcotics dealing as a
threat to public safety and community quality of life.

While some reform is necessary, it is these communities that will be
directly at risk if drug selling, which is often accompanied by violence,
increases because modification goes too far.

ROBERT T. JOHNSON

District Attorney, Bronx County

Bronx, May 10, 2002