BOSTON -- Gov. Deval Patrick has launched a comprehensive review of the state's mandatory sentencing laws as officials say giving judges the discretion to impose minimum sentences may help them offer incentives to convicts to participate in rehabilitation programs, according to a report published Sunday.
Administration officials say the mandatory minimum sentences drive up the cost of corrections and deny judges the discretion to order the release of prisoners on good behavior, the Boston Sunday Globe reported.
This fails to offer prisoners incentives to participate in work release, rehabilitation or furlough programs outside their institution, said Mary Elizabeth Heffernan, an undersecretary for public safety.
Efforts to revamp the penal laws are intended to help prepare prisoners to rejoin the society. They also include changes to a program that allows employers to review the criminal record of potential employees, according to the newspaper.
Official records show that nearly half of released convicts commit a crime during their first year after release.
Attorney General Martha Coakley supports eliminating most of the mandatory minimum sentences, saying last week that they are only necessary in some cases for the sake of consistency.
"If you sell a certain amount (of drugs), this is the penalty you'll get, whether you live in a poor part of town or a rich part of town," Coakley told the Globe.
Robert Mulligan, chief justice for administration and management of trial courts, said most judges would prefer eliminating mandatory sentences altogether.
Politicians enacted mandatory sentences in the early 1990s in response to the perceived leniency of some judges and a complex sentencing system.
A commission appointed by the legislature reported in 2003 that the minorities were disproportionately hit with mandatory minimums, especially school zone violations.
"Most minorities don't live in suburban or rural areas," Mulligan, who led the commission, said. "They live in urban areas where they're always within 1,000 feet of a school."
(Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
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