A little reality in sentencing

Sentencing of criminals raises lots of questions. Many people complain about inconsistencies or leniency. [Many complain that too many cases are dropped instead of prosecuted, which is another sore point.] That career criminals, junkies, drug dealers and youngsters need to be shown that they can’t get away with whatever harm they wish to commit is a popular belief.

If criminals don’t get serious prison time, then we can expect them to be out committing crimes again soon, critics of the justice system say. Perhaps worse, others will gain confidence that they can take up crime and make it pay for them with little or no punishment. Prison should deter not only the convicted but those yet to become criminals, the argument goes. Judges need to get tough, they say.

Not all criminals skate away from their offenses. Here are a few examples of sentences imposed in Maryland this month, as reported by the U.S. Attorney’s Office:

• Last week, Marvin A. Jackson, 43, of Baltimore, was sentenced to 15 years in prison, followed by three years of supervised release, for being a felon in possession of a firearm. U.S. District Judge Richard D. Bennett enhanced Jackson’s sentence upon finding that he was an armed career criminal, based on four previous narcotics convictions and one prior conviction for attempted murder.

• The next day, U.S. District Judge William D. Quarles Jr. sentenced William Leonardo Graham, 42, of Essex, to life in prison for conspiracy to distribute cocaine. Graham was convicted of that charge by a federal jury. Quarles imposed the life sentence based on Graham’s three previous narcotics convictions and the amount of drugs involved in the conspiracy.

• Yesterday, U.S. District Judge Deborah K. Chasanow sentenced Amadi Zaid, 30, of Oakland, Calif., to11 years and 3 months in prison followed by five years of supervised release for conspiring to distribute 1 or more kilograms of PCP to conspirators in Maryland.

How long will they actually be in prison? Who knows? But they did receive those sentences.

Last night, Liz Bowie of The Sun reports, the Baltimore City School Board, after months of public debate, adopted “a policy that allows students to be permanently expelled for setting fires or other violent acts that threaten the safety of staff and students.”

A few hours earlier, a Mergenthaler Vocational-Technical High School student had been stabbed in the back in the school cafeteria. And, The Sun reports, about 90 minutes later a student was cut on the arm by another student near Maritime Industries Academy as school was being dismissed.

But getting convictions and stiff sentences requires good, honest police work. Van Smith of The City Paper reports today that accusations of embezzlement against a city detective are hindering and even killing drug case prosecutions.

Such accusations, and resulting failures to obtain convictions, hurt the credibility of and trust in the police department.