Drug sentences, juvenile offenders targeted for review by state commission

The commission studying potential changes to Nevada's criminal justice laws decided Thursday to take up the issues one at a time over the next eight months.

The goal, according to chairman and Supreme Court Justice Jim Hardesty, is to produce "very specific recommendations for the Legislature to act on by Sept. 1."

The commission was created by the 2007 Legislature to find ways to stem the growth of Nevada's prison population and avoid construction of up to $2 billion in new prisons.

Hardesty said the commission will take subjects from changes to juvenile justice to recommended expansion of treatment programs, transitional support for inmates coming out of prison and other programs one at a time in separate meetings between now and August, "and just keep knocking them down as we go."

But Sen. Mark Amodei, R-Carson City, warned Hardesty and other members of the commission they will face some serious political opposition when they move to change the tough-on-crime sentencing structure created by the 1995 Legislature.

"A lot of mandatory sentencing is the result of hearing rooms full of people who, because of an experience, want something changed," Amodei said.

"Politically speaking, it's a very hard thing to sit there and go, 'Sorry about that, we're not changing it.'"

Hardesty said one example of something that needs changing is mandatory sentencing for drug trafficking, "which is having a heck of an impact on our prison system."

He said the sentencing is based totally on the quantity of the drugs and, for large quantities, mandates a 10- to 25-year sentence.

Hardesty said that law, as it was intended to, has repeatedly caught drug "mules," carriers for major dealers. The idea was that the threat of long sentences would get those smugglers to give up their bosses.

"But the truth is there aren't very many mules that have very much information about their employers that law enforcement doesn't already know," he said.

As a result, there are 7,800 of Nevada's 13,000 inmates who are category B felons "and a large percentage of them are drug traffickers."

Hardesty said the commission needs to look at whether the 1995 tough-on-crime package is doing what it was intended to.

Amodei said he's not opposed to making changes, but that the commission needs to be prepared with logical arguments for prosecutors and victims' advocates to support recommendations.

He said to support some proposed changes - such as shifting more money to treatment, transition programs, parole and probation and away from incarceration - the commission needs evidence.

He asked experts including Director of Corrections Howard Skolnik and P&P Director John Gonska to develop some figures to help demonstrate whether alternatives to incarceration would actually save the state money.

One of the biggest issues the commission has found in its six months of work since the Legislature is the lack of substance abuse, mental health and sex offender counseling programs around the state.

"That's why we can't get 1,000 people out of prison who everybody agrees should be out," he said.

He said the commission needs to look at the availability of services "and see if we can make a fiscal shift for social benefit."

Amodei said the commission needs to start before the Legislature, convincing Gov. Jim Gibbons to support its recommendations and include them in his proposed budget. He said lawmakers will be much more inclined to support program changes if they are jointly supported by the governor, Attorney General Catherine Cortez Masto and Hardesty.

Masto said her work on the methamphetamine task force has helped convince her of the "fiscal and social benefits of prevention." She said the same applies in the prisons.

• Contact reporter Geoff Dornan at gdornan@nevadaappeal.com or 687-8750.

What's next?

At the commission's February meeting, it will take up the subject of changes in how juvenile criminals are certified to be tried as adults. Officials say there is strong support for specific changes from both prosecution and defense lawyers.

Attorney General Catherine Cortez Masto and Gayle Farley, who represents victims rights on the commission, will work on victims rights issues for a future meeting and Sen. Steve Horsford, D-Las Vegas, and Masto are to develop a meeting agenda for juvenile offender issues.